"Charles L. Harness-The Tetrahedron" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harness Charles L)

"Find some really close prior art, then move to dissolve the interference, as unpatentable to either
party. That way, nobody gets a patent, but DOD will be free to use the invention."
She knew very well they didn't have any "really close prior art," and that somehow she would be
involved in remedying the omission. It was beginning to come together.
The intercom buzzed. "Yes?" said Wright, without turning.
"Mr. Pellar, sir," said a disembodied female voice.
"Send him in."
C. Cuthbert Pellar smiled ingratiatingly at the man who could make him partner, frowned remotely at
Elizabeth, and took the indicated chair.
"Nothing?" said Wright.
"Nothing, sir. We've searched the entire field of US and foreign patents, and all the scientific literature.
We've spent three months and three million dollars looking for a reference to prove the TM is old in the
art. We found nothing." He looked over at Elizabeth. His expression said plainly, "And she can't help."
"As I explained earlier," said the older man, "the DOD has examined the curricula vitae of every
employee of the firm, including the associates, not only for security reasons, but also looking for special
skills." He held up a printout, adjusted his spectacles, and studied the sheet. "Colonel Inman has called
my attention to certain interesting facets in Ms. Gerard's background. She got her master's degree in
assembling and translating ancient manuscripts. She has stack privileges in major international libraries.
She is reasonably fluent in several foreign languages."
"Sir," said Pellar, "I don't understand."
Yeah, thought Elizabeth. Me either.
"Simple," said Wright. "We've exhausted the printed art; now we go farther back-- into the
manuscripts."
"But-- " began Pellar.
"The client has requested it, Mr. Pellar," said Wright firmly. "Please describe the machine to Ms.
Gerard, so that she can go to work."
"Oh, yes, sir. Of course, sir. We can start with the interference count. I quote." he half-closed his eyes
and began to rattle away in a rhythmic sing-song. "Apparatus for shifting the space-time axis consisting of
(a) silver tubes containing heavy water and positioned to form a tetrahedral framework; (b) a source of
EMF adapted to cause an electrical current to flow through said framework; (c) a cubical crystal of
uraninite; and (d) a mammal in cerebral electrical contact with said EMF source and said uraninite."
Son-of-a-gun, thought Elizabeth. He's memorized it. And meanwhile, she was thinking... a
tetrahedron? Had she seen something... somewhere?
Pellar leered at her. "Well? Did you get it?"
He's mad at me already, she thought. The first team spent three million and crapped out. So now the
problem is handed over to one lone female junior associate. And the worst is yet to come, Cuthbert,
because I do indeed remember something. "Just a minute, please." She let an image form in her mind.
Four equilateral triangles made of silver tubes... Where had she seen this? Something in manuscript. She
remembered the strange writing. She ran down a mental list of the major medieval mathematicians.
Geber... Kashi... Copernicus. No, none of them. How about the minors? Biagio de Ravenna... Paolo dal
Pozzo Toscanelli... two of the finest mathematicians of Renaissance Italy, and both had taught the boy
Leonardo da Vinci.
Of course.
That's where she had seen the sketch. In a copy of a page from one of Leonardo's many notebooks.
Which one? There were dozens, and they were scattered in libraries all over the world. Yes, she had it
now. The quaderno so recently bought by the Library of Congress. "Gentlemen," she said, "your time
machine may indeed have been described in the unprinted literature."
The two men stared at her in puzzled silence.
Pellar was the first to move. He looked over at Wright. It was an expressive look, and it said, "You
see, Mr. Wright, this is what you get when you bring in a woman."