"Wan Nes Stan has obtruded his philosophy upon you already, Len Dor Vale. The next step will take place soon enough that no replacement of you will be necessary, that you know. Completion of his investigations on the conversion of the mind machine will bring about the next step--as you predict--sooner than it would if he were not so single-minded in his purpose." "Why was Wan Nes Stan permitted to proceed?" "Every man gets his chance. Every man must be permitted his opportunity to excel as long as he does no irreparable harm." "His actions on Terra prior to being forced out were not beneficent or benevolent." "There were no permanent scars," mused the Student. "As for his use of the machine--it has done all Students good. Evidence to the effect that the mind is limitless is valuable, Len Dor Vale." "But his is not the type that should use such a machine." "Agreed. One should have a purely theoretical mind before one uses the machine. Otherwise the mind becomes agile and capacious with nothing for it to do. A complete theorist cares nothing for reduction of theory into practice; manipulation of ultra-theoretical concepts into solution is the end-all for us, and the obtaining of impractical mathematics can be handled in a super-energized mind without unbalance. "But Wan Nes Stan's philosophy includes violence where necessary, and there will be violence. But not dangerous violence. No man can do anything irreplaceably devastating." "Frankly," offered Len Dor Vale, "I feared that in taking his next step he might take Planet One with him." "Unless he can control all of the Galactic minds there, he will not cause change in any but himself. Have no fear, even for those within his reach." "I thank you. I was worried." The Student nodded, and turned away from Len Dor Vale by a slight amount. The Student's eyes closed part way as he immersed himself in thought. As Len Dor Vale turned to go, the Student aroused himself briefly--long enough to add: "Wan Nes Stan will take his next step and the Galaxy will be a better place for it." * * * * * Wan Nes Stan shook his head with annoyance as the machine remained mute. For three days he had been working on it with all of his mind-capacity. In the empty crevasses of his capable mind, Wan Nes Stan was packing enormous quantities of information and education gained on the spot. With perfect memory, he stored the details away and reviewed them with perfection before he tried another change in the circuits of his machine. Sheer reasoning power had failed to solve his problem, not even unreal mathematics served. There was no solution to the problem of how to transfer knowledge from brain to brain. What is knowledge? he asked himself again and again.