With No Strings Attached

"With No Strings Attached" by Randall Garrett is a science fiction short story published in the early 1960s. The narrative explores themes of innovation, deception, and the complexities of human belief in technology, focusing on a revolutionary power source created by a mysterious inventor. Set against the backdrop of a military environment, it depicts the intersection of scientific advancement and societal skepticism. The story centers around Richard Thorn, a scientist with North American Carbide & Metals, who learns about an enigmatic device known as the Black Suitcase, developed by an inventor named Sorensen. This suitcase is claimed to generate an extraordinary amount of power, leading to a contract negotiation with the Navy. Despite initial skepticism, Thorn discovers that the suitcase contains a hydrogen fusion device disguised as a battery, revealing Sorensen’s clever strategy to gain credibility for his groundbreaking invention. The narrative unfolds as Thorn navigates the delicate balance of belief and truth in technological advancement, ultimately leading to questions about the nature of innovation and human understanding. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Gordon Randall Phillip David Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. He instructed Robert Silverberg in the techniques of selling large quantities of action-adventure science fiction, and collaborated with him on two novels about men from Earth disrupting a peaceful agrarian civilization on an alien planet.