"Whether I believe it or not isn't the point. You see I'm quite certain that it won't stop sharply enough for anyone to be able to take the blame. It will just drip slower and slower and slower and no one will ever be able to pinpoint the exact time when it stopped. So why worry?"
"I agree with you."
"I do, however," she said, making the transition smoothly, "have other worries, and I'd like to discuss them with you while we're alone." She spread out the blanket and sat on it, cross-legged.
"Which is why you really brought me here?" He dropped to hip and elbow, facing her.
She said, "See, you can look at me easily now. You're getting used to me. . . . And, really, there were surely times on Earth when near nudity wasn't something to be exclaimed over."
"Times and places," agreed Denison, "but not since the passing of the Crisis. In my lifetime - "
"Well, on the Moon, do as the Lunarites do is a good enough guide for behavior."
"Are you going to tell me why you really brought me here? Or shall I suspect you of planning seduction?"
"I could carry through seduction quite comfortably at home, thank you. This is different The surface would have been best, but getting ready to go out on the surface would have attracted a great deal of attention. Coming here didn't, and this place is the only spot in town where we can be reasonably safe from interruption." She hesitated.
"Well?" said Denison.
"Barren is angry. Very angry, in fact."
"I'm not surprised. I warned you he would be if you told him that I knew you were an Intuitionist. Why did you feel it so necessary to tell him?"
"Because it is difficult to keep things for long from my - companion. Probably, though, he doesn't consider me that any longer."
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, it was turning sour anyway. It's lasted long enough. What bothers me more - much more - is that he violently refuses to accept your interpretation of the Pionizer experiments you ran after the surface observations."
"I told you the way it would be."
"He said he had seen your results,"
"He glanced at them and grunted."
"It's rather disillusioning. Does everyone just believe what he wants to?"
"As long as possible. Sometimes longer."
"What about you?"
"You mean, am I human? Certainly. I don't believe I'm really old. I believe I'm quite attractive. I believe you seek out. my company because you think I'm charming - even when you insist on turning the conversation to physics."
"No! I mean it!"
"Well, I suspect Neville told you that the data I had gathered were not significant beyond the margin of error, which makes them doubtful, and that's true enough . . . And yet I prefer to believe they have the meaning I expected them to have to begin with."
"Just because you want to believe that?"
"Not just because. Look at it this way. Suppose there is no harm in the Pump, but that I insist on thinking there is harm. In that case, I will turn out to be a fool and my scientific reputation will be badly damaged. But I am a fool in the eyes of the people who count, and I have no scientific reputation."
"Why is that, Ben? You've hinted around the tale several times. Can't you tell me the whole story?"
"You'd be surprised how little there is to tell. At the age of twenty-five I was still such a child that I had to amuse myself by insulting a fool for no reason other than that he was a fool. Since his folly was not his fault, I was the greater fool to do it. My insult drove him to heights he couldn't possibly have scaled otherwise - "
"You're talking of Hallam?"
"Yes, of course. And as he rose, I fell. And eventually, it dropped me to - the Moon."
"Is that so bad?"
"No, I rather think it's good. So let's say he did me a favor, long-way round . . . And let's get back to what I'm talking about. I'vejust explained that if I believe the Pump to be harmful and am wrong, I lose nothing. On the other hand, if I believe the Pump to be harmless and am wrong, I will be helping to destroy the world. To be sure, I've lived most of my life already and I suppose I can argue myself into believing that I have no great cause to love humanity. However, only a few people have hurt