With No Strings Attached

With No Strings Attached

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3.5
(2 Reviews)
With No Strings Attached by Randall Garrett

Published:

1963

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With No Strings Attached

By

3.5
(2 Reviews)
A man will always be willing to buy something he wants, and believes in, even if it is impossible, rather than something he believes is impossible. So... sell him what he thinks he wants!

Book Excerpt

ou patented it."

"Couldn't they?" Sorensen asked with a touch of acid in his voice. "Do you know anything about batteries, Mr. Siegel?"

"A little. I'm not an expert on 'em, or anything like that. I'm an electrician. But I know a little bit about 'em."

Sorensen nodded. "Then you should know, Mr. Siegel, that battery-making is an art, not a science. You don't just stick a couple of electrodes into a solution of electrolyte and consider that your work is done. With the same two metals and the same electrolyte, you could make batteries that would run the gamut from terrible to excellent. Some of 'em, maybe, wouldn't hold a charge more than an hour, while others would have a shelf-life, fully charged, of as much as a year. Batteries don't work according to theory. If they did, potassium chlorate would be a better depolarizer than manganese dioxide, instead of the other way around. What you get out of a voltaic cell depends on the composition and strength of the electrolyte, the kind of depolar

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Typical gimmick story from Garrett, above average in this case. If it weren't for his Lord Darcy tales wouldn't bother to read these others.
An amusing story about a frustrated scientist who can't convince anyone to take his impossible invention seriously, so he disguises it.

The story loses a little plausability because the military actually ends up buying something that exceeds its specs, while saving the country money. That could never happen, but hey, it's science fiction.