I grinned at her despite our situation. "We talk purty," I interpreted.
Then turning back to the Martian: "But if there cannot be physical
contact between the races, why worry about Baxter? It seems to me that
the worst he could do is snub you!"
"I'd better give you a bit more detail."
"Wait a minute." I held up a hand in protest. "If you tell me what
Baxter knows then won't I be--"
"A threat to us? No. I do not intend to tell you the specific manner in
which we can be destroyed, simply the nature of the destruction."
"All right. What?"
"You're aware, of course, of the geocentric theory of the universe?"
"Mmmm, I've heard of it. Isn't that the theory, once held by people
on earth, that the Earth was the center of all creation, and the sun
revolved around it, not vice-versa?"
"That is the one. Now, though your race believed it to be a false
theory--"
"It is false!" I protested.
"For Earth, yes. But not, you see, for Mars. This place where you now
stand, this brief liaison-point between our dimension and yours, is the
center of your physical universe."
"You're crazy," I said. "Why, the sun alone is too massive to swing
about this planet, let alone everything else! It'd be like a small boy
trying to twirl a ten-ton boulder on the end of a rope; even if he
managed, somehow, to get it started in motion, within ten seconds it'd
be swinging him!"
"And if this small boy had another ten-ton boulder on the other side of
him?"
"Well--uh ..."
"And another one above, and below, and in all directions from him? What
then?"