"Answer me one more." "The world has been here for two times ten to the ninth years at least; you'll not live to see the end of it." "Look, Steve, this may be important. Tell me, have any of your instruments shown any difference in setting since that streak of energy went through the solar system a few days ago?" "Not that we can measure." "But—" "Jay, the best information we can collect is that the original streak was a long cylinder about a half mile in diameter. Dammitall, you could take a chunk a half mile in diameter and stretching from one end of the universe to the other, remove it from the universe and let the rest of space curl in to fill up what was missing; and when you were done, no one could measure it. A half mile is a small peanut compared to the immensity of space. Now can I go back to work?" "In a minute, Steve. What do you know about Maculay's Equations?" "Maculay's Equations? What do you know about them? I mean, what do you want to know about them?" "I'm no abstract mathematician, Steve, but I'm forced to fumble in the dark with some very cockeyed theories that make no sense. Maculay has the idea that the generation of some sort of negative space would permit gross matter to exceed the velocity of light, but that this negative space would destroy by mutual cancellation this present, or positive space. Does that make sense to you?" "Y'know what I think?" "No." "I think that old saw about the shoemaker sticking to his last is applicable. Stay with your neurones and your pills, witch-doctor, and leave the juggling of space to people who can sight nothing, falling from a vacuum into a void, and explain it." "Fine," rasped Hanson. "Now that I've been properly roasted for meddling, what gives you to think that no one but an astronomer can think?" "Steve—if I started to outline medicine to you, it would sound no better than your outline of Maculay's Theories did to me." Hanson chuckled. "So we're both stupid, according to the other. Now admitting that I'm stupid and get
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