The Astronomer said, “They’ll come.”
That was all.
Afterward the Industrialist said, “You’ll pardon me. I can’t conceive your playing so elaborate a hoax. You really spoke to them?”
“As I speak to you. At least, in a sense. They can project thoughts.”
“I gathered that must be so from your letter. How, I wonder.”
“I could not say. I asked them and, of course, they were vague. Or perhaps it was just that I could not understand. It involves a projector for the focussing of thought and, even more than that, conscious attention on the part of both projector and receptor. It was quite a while before I realized they were trying to think at me. Such thought-projectors may be part of the science they will give us.”
“Perhaps,” said the Industrialist. “Yet think of the changes it would bring to society. A thought-projector!”
“Why not? Change would be good for us.”
“I don’t think so.”
“It is only in old age that change is unwelcome,” said the Astronomer, “and races can be old as well as individuals.”