The gadget was strictly,
beyond any question, a toy.
Not a real, workable device.
Except for the way it could work
under a man's mental skin....
Because there were few adults inthe crowd, and Colonel "Biff" Hawtonstood over six feet tall, he couldsee every detail of the demonstration.The children—and most of theparents—gaped in wide-eyed wonder.Biff Hawton was too sophisticatedto be awed. He stayed on becausehe wanted to find out what thetrick was that made the gadget work.
"It's all explained right here inyour instruction book," the demonstratorsaid, holding up a garishlyprinted booklet opened to a four-colordiagram. "You all know howmagnets pick up things and I betyou even know that the earth itself isone great big magnet—that's whycompasses always point north. Well... the Atomic Wonder SpaceWave Tapper hangs onto those spacewaves. Invisibly all about us, andeven going right through us, are themagnetic waves of the earth. TheAtomic Wonder rides these wavesjust the way a ship rides the wavesin the ocean. Now watch...."
Every eye was on him as he put thegaudy model rocketship on top of thetable and stepped back. It was madeof stamped metal and seemed as incapableof flying as a can of ham—whichit very much resembled. Neitherwings, propellors, nor jets brokethrough the painted surface. It restedon three rubber wheels and comingout through the bottom was a doublestrand of thin insulated wire. Thiswhite wire ran across the top of theblack table and terminated in a controlbox in the demonstrator's hand.An indicator light, a switch and aknob appeared to be the only controls.
"I turn on the Power Switch, sendinga surge of current to the WaveReceptors," he said. The switchclicked and the light blinked on andoff with a steady pulse. Then theman began to slowly turn the knob."A careful touch on the Wave Generatoris necessary as we are dealingwith the powers of the whole worldhere...."
A concerted ahhhh swept throughthe crowd as the Space Wave Tappershivered a bit, then rose slowly intothe air. The demonstrator steppedback and the toy rose higher andhigher, bobbing gently on the invisiblewaves of magnetic force thatsupported it. Ever so slowly the powerwas reduced and it settled back tothe table.
"Only $17.95," the young mansaid, putting a large price sign on thetable. "For the complete set of theAtomic Wonder, the Space Tappercontrol box, battery and instructionbook ..."
At the appearance of the pricecard the crowd broke up noisily andthe children rushed away towards theoperating model trains. The demonstrator'swords were lost in theirnoisy passage, and after a moment hesank into a gloomy silence. He putthe control box down, yawned andsat on the edge of the table. ColonelHawton was the only one left afterthe crowd had moved on.
"Could you tell me how this thingworks?" the colonel asked, comingforward. The demonstrator brightenedup and picked up one of thetoys.
"Well, if you will look here,sir...." He opened the hinged top."You will see the Space Wave coilsat each end of the ship." With a pencilhe pointed out the odd shapedplastic