"So a working superconductor with nil resistance," Perceval said, "would revolutionize the entire world's electric power systems. Among other things it would eliminate complex, expensive transmission equipment and provide fantastic amounts of power at unbelievably low cost. What has held back development until now has been the fact that superconductors would only function at very low temperatures - about 450 degrees below zero Fahrenheit."
Adam said, "That's pretty damned cold."
"Quite so. Which is why, in recent years, a scientific dream has been of a superconductor which will function at room temperature."
"Is it likely to be more than a dream?"
Perce thought before answering. "We've known each other a good many years, old boy. Have you ever known me to exaggerate?"
"No," Adam said. "Very much the reverse. You've always been conservative."
"I still am." Perce smiled and drank more tea, then went on. "Our group has not found a room temperature superconductor, but certain phenomena - the result of experiments we've made - have us excited. We wonder, some days, if we may not be very close."
"And if you are?"
"If we are, if there is a breakthrough, there's not an area of modern technology which won't be affected and improved. Let me give you two examples."
Adam listened with increasing fascination.
"I won't go into all the magnetic field hypotheses, but there's something called a superconducting ring. What it is is a wire which will store electric current in large amounts and hold it intact, and if we make the other breakthrough we'll be on top of this one, too. It'll make feasible the transfer of portable electric power in huge amounts, from place to place, by truck or boat or airplane. Think of its uses in the desert or the jungle - flown there in a package without a generator in sight, and more to follow when needed. And can you imagine another superconducting ring, this time in an electric operated car, making the battery as out of date as rushlight?"
"Since you ask," Adam said, "I have trouble imagining some of that."
Perce reminded him, "Not long ago people had trouble imagining atomic energy and space travel."
True, Adam thought, then pointed out, "You said two examples."
"Yes, I did. One of the interesting things about a superconductor is that it's diamagnetic that's to say, when used in conjunction with more common magnets, immensely large repulsive forces can occur. Do you see the possibilities, old boy? - metals in any kind of machinery nestled close together yet never actually touching. Obviously we'd have frictionless bearings. And you could build a car without metal parts in contact with one another - hence, no wear. Those are just beginning possibilities. Others are endless."
It was impossible not to share some of Perce's conviction. From anyone else, Adam would have taken most of what was being described either as science fiction or a long-range possibility.
But not from Perce Stuyvesant who had a record of good judgment and accomplishment in deeply scientific fields.
"Somewhat fortunately," Perce said, "in the areas I've mentioned, and others, our group has been able to move along without attracting much attention. But there'll be attention soon - lots of it. That's another reason why we need you."
Adam was thinking hard. Perce's report and ideas excited him, though he wondered if the excitement would be as great or as sustained as he had experienced with cars - the Orion and Farstar, for example. Even now, the thought of not being a part of the auto industry was hard to accept. But there had been something in what Perce said yesterday about carving new pathways, breaking fresh ground.
Adam said, "If we do get down to this seriously, I'll want to come to San Francisco and talk with the rest of your people."
"We'd be more than delighted, old man, and I urge you to make it soon."
Perce spread his hands in a deprecating gesture. "Of course, not everything I've described may work out the way we hope, nor is a breakthrough ever a breakthrough until it's happened. But there will be some important, exciting things; that much we know for sure and that I promise you. Remember that line? 'There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood . . .' and so on."
"Yes," Adam said, "I remember."
He was wondering about timing, and a tide, for Erica and himself.
Chapter 25
The initial involvement of Rollie Knight in organized plant crime had begun in February. It started the same week that he saw the foreman Frank Parkland - whom Rollie had come close to admiring - take a bribe, prompting Rollie's later observation to May Lou, "There ain't nuthin' in this whole wide world but bullshit."
At first, to Rollie, his participation seemed slight enough. He began by taking and recording numbers bets each day in the area of Assembly where he worked. The money and yellow betting slips were passed by Rollie to the stockroom delivery man, Daddy-o Lester, who got them farther along their route toward a betting house downtown. From overheard remarks Rollie guessed the delivery system tied in with truck deliveries in and out of the plant.
Frank Parkland, still Rollie's foreman, gave him no trouble about occasional absences from his work station which the number running entailed. As long as the absences were brief and not too many, Parkland moved a relief man in without comment; otherwise, he cautioned Rollie mildly. Obviously the foreman was continuing to be paid off.
That was in February. By May, Rollie was working for the loan sharks and check cashers: two illegal plant enterprises which interlocked.
A reason for the new activity was that he had borrowed money himself and was having difficulty paying off. Also, the money Rollie was earning from his job, which at first had seemed a fortune, suddenly was no longer enough to keep pace with his own and May Lou's spending. So, now Rollie persuaded others to accept loans and helped with their collection.
Such loans were made, and taken, casually at extortionate rates of interest. A plant worker might borrow twenty dollars early in one week and owe twenty-five dollars by payday of the same week. Incredibly, the demand - including requests for larger sums - was brisk.
On payday, the loan sharks - company employees like everyone else - would become in-plant unofficial check cashers, cashing the paychecks of all who wished, but seeking out those who owed them money.
A check casher's fee was the odd cents on any-check. If a check was made out for $100.99, the check casher took the $0.99, though his minimum fee was $0.25. Because of volume, and the fact that the check casher picked up his loans, plus interest, the operation involved big money and it was not unusual for a check casher - loan man to carry twenty thousand dollars in cash. When he did, he hired other workers as bodyguards.
Once a loan was made, it was wise for the borrower not to default. Anyone who did would find himself with a broken arm or leg, or worse and would still owe the money, with more punishment to follow if it remained unpaid.
A lucky few, like Rollie, were allowed to work off, in service, part of the interest owed. The principal sum - even for these - had to be repaid.
Thus, Rollie Knight, on all work days and especially paydays, became an intermediary for the flow of loan and check money back and forth. Despite this, he continued to be short of money himself.
In June, he began peddling drugs.
Rollie hadn't wanted to. Increasingly, as he became involved with plant rackets, he had a sense of being sucked in against his will, incurring the danger of exposure, arrest and - a dread which haunted him - a return to prison with a long sentence. Others who had no criminal records, though their activities were illegal, ran a lesser risk than himself. If caught and charged, they would be treated as first offenders. Rollie wouldn't.