"By observing an organism's reactions, one can begin to see a pattern. If you tell me that you put an armful of hay into a certain animal's enclosure, and that the animal trotted over, ate the hay, and brayed, I can tell you with reasonable certainty that the animal has long ears. Do you see?" "You haven't been able to pinpoint the Nipe that easily, have you?" Stanton asked. "Ah, no. The more intelligent a creature is, the greater its scope of action. The Nipe is far from being so simple as a monkey or a hamster. On the other hand--" He smiled widely, showing bright, white teeth. "--he is not so bright as a human being." "_What!?_ I wouldn't say he was exactly stupid, George. What about all those prize gadgets of his?" He blinked. "Wipe the sweat off my forehead, will you? It's running into my eyes." * * * * * Dr. Yoritomo wiped with the towel as he continued. "Ah, yes. He is quite capable in that respect, my friend. It is his great memory--at once his finest asset and his greatest curse." He draped the towel around Stanton's head again and stepped back, his face unsmiling. "Imagine having a near-perfect memory." Stanton's jaw muscles tightened. "I think I'd like it." Yoritomo shrugged slightly. "Perhaps you would. But it would not be the asset you think. Look at it soberly, my friend. "The most difficult teaching job in the universe is the attempt to teach an organism something it already knows. True? Yes. If a man already knows the shape of the Earth, it will do you no good to attempt to teach him. If he _knows_ that the Earth is flat, your contention that it is round will make no impression whatever. He _knows_, you see. He _knows_. "Now. Imagine a race with a perfect memory--one which does not fade. A memory in which each bit of data is as bright and fresh as the moment it was imprinted, and as readily available as the data stored in a robot's mind. It is, in effect, a robotic memory. "If you put false data into the memory bank of a computer--such as telling it that the square of two is five--you cannot correct the error simply by telling it that the square of two is four. You must first remove the erroneous data, not so? "Very good. Then let us look at the Nipe race, wherever it was spawned in this universe. Let us look at their race a long time back--when they first became _Nipe sapiens_. Back when they first developed a true language. Each child, as it is born or hatched or budded--whatever it is they do--is taught as rapidly as possible all the things it must know to survive. And once it is taught a thing, it _knows_. And if it is taught a falsehood, then it cannot be taught the truth." "Wouldn't cold reality force a change?" Stanton asked.