"I wish," said Dabney impressively, "to congratulate the men who have so
swiftly adapted my discovery of faster-than-light travel to practical
use. I am overwhelmed at having been able to achieve a scientific
triumph which in time will mean that mankind's future stretches
endlessly and splendidly into the future!"
Here there was canned applause. Dabney held up his hand for attention.
He thought. Visibly.
"But," he said urgently, "I admit that I am disturbed by the
precipitancy of the action that has been taken. I feel as if I were like
some powerful djinni giving gifts which the recipients may use without
thought."
More canned applause, inserted because he had given instructions for it
whenever he paused. The communicator-operator at Luna City took pleasure
in following instructions exactly. Dabney held up his hand again. Again
he performed feats of meditation in plain view.
"At the moment," he said anxiously, "as the author of this truly
magnificent achievement, I have to use the same intellect which produced
it, to examine the possibility of its ill-advised use. May not
explorers--who took off without my having examined their plans and
precautions--may not over-hasty users of my gift to humanity do harm?
May they not find bacteria the human body cannot resist? May they not
bring back plagues and epidemics? Have they prepared themselves to use
my discovery only for the benefit of mankind? Or have they been
precipitous? I shall have to apply myself to the devising of methods by
which my discovery--made so that Humanity might attain hitherto
undreamed-of-heights--I shall have to devise means by which it will be
truly a blessing to mankind!"
Dabney, of course, had tasted the limelight.
Pages:
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186