000 02691cam a22003853u 4500
001 77756
003 UtSlPG
005 20260610134812.0
006 m
007 cr n
008 260607r20261955utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d
040 _aUtSlPG
041 7 _aen
_2iso639-1
050 4 _aPS
100 1 _aThomas, Theodore L.,
_d1920-2005
245 1 4 _aThe magnificent profession
264 1 _aSalt Lake City, UT :
_bProject Gutenberg,
_c2026
300 _a1 online resource :
_bmultiple file formats
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
490 1 _aProduced from Fantastic Universe, November 1955 (Vol. 4, No. 4.).
500 _aRelease date is 2026-01-23
508 _aTom Trussel (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
520 _aThe magnificent profession by Theodore L. Thomas is a satirical science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It skewers the culture of patent law and government bureaucracy through a comic premise: an “underground diving suit” powered by a strange crystal that lets its wearer pass through solid matter. Carl Saddle, a young patent attorney under the flamboyant Helix Spardleton, visits their brilliant, chaotic client “Doc” Marchare, who has built a suit that uses a cabbagite crystal to soften solid materials so a person can walk through earth, walls, and floors. When the fearsome examiner Herbert Krome rejects the patent as obvious and inoperable, he insists on trying the suit himself—and promptly sinks floor by floor through the Patent Office, sowing panic and slapstick ruin as his intangible field melts furniture, fans, and desks. Saddle races after him, witnessing escalating chaos until Krome finally reaches ground level and hurries to a meeting with the Commissioner and a Defense Department general. Thinking fast, Saddle frames the mishap as a successful demonstration, mutes Krome’s protests, and leverages the moment into a government licensing deal, neatly turning bureaucratic logic and bravado to his client’s advantage. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
534 _pOriginally published:
_cNew York: King-Size Publications, Inc., 1955
653 _aScience fiction
653 _aShort stories
653 _aInventions -- Fiction
653 _aPatent lawyers -- Fiction
700 1 _aHunter, Mel,
_d1927-2004
830 0 _aProduced from Fantastic Universe, November 1955 (Vol. 4, No. 4.).
856 4 _uhttps://archive.org/details/Fantastic_Universe_v04n04_1955-11/page/n89/mode/2up
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77756
999 _c118476
_d118476