* * * * *
Tamis sat down facing him. She'd removed the contact lenses. The liquid
luminous depths of her eyes were hypnotic. "No. I couldn't sleep. We
need men like you too badly. You especially."
"Me?" he said, startled. "You need me?"
She smiled. "My people, Joel, are a timid race, unwarlike,
unaggressive. There are many differences between us. Not of an organic
nature. We are fundamentally alike. The differences lie in our culture."
"How do you mean?"
"It is difficult to explain. But your race is so far advanced in the
physical sciences that it terrifies us. With your incomprehensible
machines you could sweep us into extinction in the wink of an eye.
"When the first Terran ship landed on Asgard, we were careful not to
show ourselves. Then we learned a queer thing. Although the Terrans
were amazingly clever in physics and chemistry, they knew nothing about
the potential of the machines that were their own bodies. Nothing! So
we continued to elude them and to study them...."
"How?"
"I am not at liberty to tell you that. If the Thinkers accept you,
they'll inform you how it is done."