A Moorish girl went by dressed in a neatly tailored gray jellaba,
European style high-heeled shoes, and a pinkish silk veil so transparent
that you could see she wore lipstick. Very provocative, dark eyes can be
over a veil. We both looked after her.
I said, "Or, here's another one. Suppose you have a very advanced
civilization on, say, Mars."
"Not Mars. No air, and too bloody dry to support life."
"Don't interrupt, please," I said with mock severity. "This is a very
old civilization and as the planet began to lose its water and air, it
withdrew underground. Uses hydroponics and so forth, husbands its water
and air. Isn't that what we'd do, in a few million years, if Earth lost
its water and air?"
"I suppose so," he said. "Anyway, what about them?"
"Well, they observe how man is going through a scientific boom, an
industrial boom, a population boom. A boom, period. Any day now he's
going to have practical space ships. Meanwhile, he's also got the H-Bomb
and the way he beats the drums on both sides of the Curtain, he's not
against using it, if he could get away with it."
Paul said, "I got it. So they're scared and are keeping an eye on us.
That's an old one. I've read that a dozen times, dished up different."