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The Metamorphizer seems to give them the ability to break down even the most stable compound, select what they need, and also fix the inert nitrogen of the air to nourish themselves." "'Themselves," repeated Gootes, writing rapidly. "O K. If I get you which is doubtful so far it sounds just like a good new fertilizer." "Really? I tried to make myself clear." "Now don't get sore, Professor.
"But what about meeting the discoverer of the Metamorphizer?" "Oh, that. Well, W R thinks we don't need him anymore. Not enough in that angle." I suspected he was bluffing; still it was possible he wasnt. In such a delicate situation there was nothing I could do but bluff in turn. If you are a good salesman, I always say, you must have psychology at your fingertips.
"Of all people," she went on, searching my face with those discomfiting eyes, "of all people Ive the least cause for moral snobbery. Anxious to get a few dollars to carry on my work and what was such anxiety but selfindulgence? I threw the Metamorphizer to you and the world before I realized that it was not only imperfect, but faulty.
"I don't know what youre getting at," I said stiffly, for it sounded as though she were regarding me as a child. "Why, as I was sitting, composing my thoughts toward extending the effectiveness of the Metamorphizer beyond gramina, it suddenly became clear to me I'd erred about not knowing how long the effect of the inoculations would last." "You mean you found out?"
Several contestants urged inoculating other grasses, such as bamboo, with the Metamorphizer, expecting the two giants of vegetation, like the Kilkenny cats, would end by devouring each other.
If I could have freed myself from her eyes I would have escaped thankfully. "Nourish'm on anything," she shouted, rubbing the round end of the toothpick vigorously into her ear. "Sow a barren waste, a worthless slagheap with lifegiving corn or wheat, inoculate the plants with the Metamorphizer and you have a crop fatter than Iowa's or the Ukraine's best. The whole world will teem with abundance."
As I dribbled the stuff over the sorry devilgrass they kicked the pump and my shins mimicking my actions, tripping me as they skipped under my legs, getting wet with the Metamorphizer I hoped with mutually deleterious effect and generally making me more than ever thankful for my bachelor condition.
Had I been content with her original limitation I'd still be bumbling around trying to interest Farmer Hicks in some Metamorphizer for his hay. "Ja notice how thick it was?" "Well, that's Bermuda for you. Tell me they actually plant it on purpose in Florida." "No kiddin?" "Yessir. Know one thing even if it looks pretty right now, I wouldnt want that stuff on my place. Have to cut it every day."
"And what steps can you take to undo, hum, this?" "So far, none," admitted Miss Francis, "but since this thing has happened I have given all my time to experiment hoping in some manner to reverse the action of the Metamorphizer and evolve a formula whereby the growth it induced will be inhibited.
I'm selling that is, I'm going to sell the product you invented to make plants eat anything." "Oh. Weener yes." She produced the toothpick and scratched her chin with it. "About the Metamorphizer." She paused and rubbed her elbow. "A mistake, I'm afraid. An error." Aha, I thought, a new deal. Someone's offered to back her.
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