"Wait and see." He envisioned the pandemonium that would reign when
girl, man, and robot marched through the village to the council house,
and he chuckled. "I think that I shall be the next Chief Commoner," he
said. "And my councilmen will all be thieves."
"Thieves!" she gasped. "Why?"
"Thieves who are not afraid to steal the knowledge of the gods--and
become technologists, to kindle the Blaze of the Winds."
"What is a 'technologist', Asir?" she asked worshipfully.
Asir glowered at himself for blundering with words he did not
understand, but could not admit ignorance to Mara who clung tightly to
his arm. "I think," he said, "that a technologist is a thief who tells
the gods what to do."
"Kiss me, Technologist," she told him in a small voice.
Big Joe clanked to a stop to wait for them to move on. He waited a long
time.