e here. I have a feeling that his job is to evaluate every word you
say and report his evaluation to Tarnhorst. You'll have to be careful."

"I agree," Alhamid said. "But he complicates things. I have a feeling
that if I tell Tarnhorst a straight story he'll believe it. He seems to
be a pretty shrewd judge. But Danley just might be the case of the man
who is dangerous because of his little learning. He obviously knows a
devil of a lot more about operations in space than Tarnhorst does, and
he's evidently a hand-picked man, so that Tarnhorst will value his
opinion. But it's evident that Danley doesn't know anything about space
by our standards. Put him out on a boat as an anchor man, and he'd be
lucky if he set a single anchor."

"Well, there's not much chance of that. How do you mean, he's
dangerous?"

"I'll give you a f'rinstance. Suppose you've got a complex circuit using
alternatic current, and you're trying to explain to a reasonably
intelligent man how it works and what it does. If he doesn't know
anything about electricity, he mightn't understand the explanation, but
he'll believe that you're telling him the truth even if he doesn't
understand it. But if he knows the basic theory of direct currents,
you're likely to find yourself in trouble because he'll know just enough
to see that what you're telling him doesn't jibe with what he already
knows. Volts times amperes equal watts, as far as he's concerned, and
the term 'power factor' does nothing but confuse him. He knows that
copper is a conductor, so he can't see how a current could be cut off by
a choke coil. He knows that a current can't pass through an insulator,
so a condenser obviously can't be what you say it is. Mentally, he tags
you as a liar, and he begins to try to dig in to see how your gadget
_really_ works."

* * * * *

"Hm-m-m. I see what you mean. Bad." He snorted. "Blast Earthmen, anyway!
Have you ever been there?"

"Earth? Nope. By careful self-restraint, I've managed to forego that
pleasure so far, Larry. Why?"

"Brrr! It's the feel of the place that I can't stand. I don't mean the
constant high-gee; I take my daily exercise spin in the centrifuge just
like anyone else, and you soon get used to the steady pull on Earth. I
mean the constant, oppressive _psychic_ tension, if you see what I mean.
The feeling that everyone hates and distrusts everyone else. The curious
impression of fear underneath every word an