"Anyway, it backfired on me because I presented him with something that offered him, not frustration, but instead, he proceeded to make something of it that no sensible engineer could ignore. And," he continued ruefully, "it did two more drastic things. One, it made his continued influence necessary. There are too many things that he knows to dispense with his type of thinking. Number two, my success in reducing his discoveries to practice has resulted in the generation of a good income. That has been the basis of our argument. He's impractical to the extreme, but as long as the body is fed, both materially and intellectually, so what? So instead of finding myself the winner, I'm actually fighting for my own existence." Tom went bitter. "A fine thing. To be forced to fight for one's existence because of factors that emanate from his own success." Elaine put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be bitter," she said softly. "I ... I'll miss you--" "Oh, don't worry," he told her in a strained voice. "I don't intend to give up." He cradled her face between his hands and looked her straight in the eyes. "If, as, and when, I--though the concept is purely hypothetical--might possibly lose--mind, I have no intention of losing since I intend to win unconditionally and maintaining the present status is intolerable--the other guy will have been in such a mad battle that he'll be forced into accepting some practical tenets as a factor. Then he'll be more like me." "This may hurt," she said seriously, "but you are not as different as you might think." "He hates the thought of practicality." "And yet," said Elaine, "if all were engineers who would take time to seek out the little-known facts?" "And," snorted Tom, "if all were physicists, we would still be hanging from trees, tossing coconuts at one another whilst a few bright dawn-men were contemplating the possibilities of using fire--but, of course, doing nothing about it. After all, once the physicist has considered all the angles, he's through. He doesn't give a howling hoot whether what he's considered is practical--after all, it _is_ interesting and that's all he cares about." "But--" "Since the physicist's thinking is actually based upon past proof--made by practical engineers--the contemplation of fire would be as far as they'd get. For there would be no engineer to ever use it to show its practical possibilities! That's based on my horribly hypothetical world where all were physicists and none were engineers." "Who invented the bow and arrow?" asked Elaine.