The gun clicked emptily, and that was all it did. "You--" "I nothing. Just told you. Look, Lenantech, people have shot at me with longbows, hauled me almost naked through the deserts of Prokyfive, beat me with lashes, and sabotaged me. Now I've had enough." "You're not making any sense to me, Master Kane. You have just one minute to get out of here, or--" "You mean you wouldn't report me if I did?" She flushed. "I didn't say that. But since you're already as good as--" "That's just it. But if I can find what I'm after here, I just might be able to change that a little. That spacetender of mine didn't fall apart out there because it wouldn't work! Not by a damn sight it didn't!" "Be careful what you say, Master Kane!" "Truth's the truth, isn't it? Even if I can't prove a certain Majtech wanted to see me flop and get thrown out of here badly enough to ruin my experiment? Maybe I asked too many questions; or answered too many the wrong way. Your guess is as good as mine. But instead of logical explanations or fair evaluations, I got a court-martial instead. Maybe you can tell me, Lenantech--why replace an entire distributor head assembly on a farm tractor when replacement of the rotor may be all that's necessary? Why a new spark plug when all that is required is the resetting of its points? Why stick to a logarithm with a base of 10 when other bases could often make an entire mathematical operation far more simple? And if a man can build you a better drive unit, why smash it for him and discredit him?" "I think the court took ample cognizance of those questions, Master Kane." She had lowered the weapon, and had even come a step closer to him. And for a moment, he thought that he had seen a flash of interest in her eyes. "I know what the court did. But you can think as well as anybody else, can't you? What are your answers, ma'am?" "This is hardly the place for a history lecture, Master Kane. But the ITA was formed of those few technicians who managed to escape the wrath of the war weary civilizations who turned upon them and upon men called scientists, whatever they were, as those to blame for system-wide destruction and wholesale death. You have been taught that. Many of their methods and much of their knowledge was lost. You have been taught that also. But it was those methods and that knowledge which saved them from destruction once, and made the ITA possible. What was not lost is sacred knowledge, Master Kane, and for only a few to know, and for those few to guard militantly lest one jot more of it become lost!" "You're right. I've been taught all that. But you still haven't answered my questions! Suppose I told you I could do a Project AA in less than an hour's time, and guarantee it good for five hundred years. What would you say to that?"