“Look here,” he said, pointing with a pencil. “See this fine little wire? It runs from the aerial socket to the battery compartment. And you can tell from the way it’s soldered that it’s not original wiring. This has been added. And I didn’t notice before, but the new wire is attached to this strange little battery that doesn’t look like a battery.”

He straightened and began fiddling with the aerial again, in and out of its socket, starting and stopping the motor.

And then he left the aerial out and left the truck chassis in the center of the bench.

“I think I have to sit down.”

Jack shot Abe a look. Something in his voice. And his face—so pale.

“Abe, you all right?”

“Yes,” he said hoarsely, staring at the chassis. “I’m okay.”

“Well, you sure as hell don’t look it. I’ve seen better color on a casaba.”

Abe continued to stare at the toy. His color was still rotten. Jack was worried about him, but then Abe said the magic words.

“That’s because I’ve just figured out what we’ve got here.”

“Swell. Gonna tell me?”

“I… I think this little toy runs on broadcast power.”

“Is that good?”

Finally Abe looked at him. “Is that good? You ask me if that’s good! What kind of meshuggeneh question is that?”

At least the color was returning to his face.

“Broadcast power. I never heard of it. Pardon me.”

Abe reached for the truck, and Jack noticed his hand hesitate, like he was afraid to touch it, like it was some sort of holy object. But finally he grabbed it and lifted it.

“See this aerial?” he said, holding up the wire. “The motor can’t run without it. No aerial… no power. But stick the aerial into its slot…”

As he did just that, the motor whirred and spun the wheels.

“… and suddenly we’ve got power. Power from the air.”

From the air? Had Abe just had a mini-stroke?

“You’re losing me,” Jack said.

“You were right about the thing in the battery compartment, Jack. It’s not a battery. It’s a transceiver. It’s taking the signal the aerial is receiving and transforming it into electrical energy.”

Jack felt a kernel of excitement begin to burn in his gut.

“Okay, but what’s the aerial receiving?”

“Power. Whoever modified this toy must have some sort of a transmitter somewhere that can broadcast a beam, a wave, an I-don’t-know-what—let’s just call it energy, because that’s what it is——that can be downloaded through the aerial and turned into electrical power.”

Jack stared at the spinning wheels, feeling that excitement swell and burn hotter. He was beginning to see how big this was.

“But how?”