“What is that?”
“Man.”
“Man?”
“Yes. He’s a great little bug. You have left him out of your calculation—which he will upset.”
The professor smiled indulgently. “I’ll allow; he is at least a conceited bug; but you surely cannot grant him much when pitted against the Universe.”
“No? Did it ever occur to you. Professor, what the Universe is? The stars for instance? Space, the immeasurable distance of Infinity. Have you never dreamed?”
Williams could not quite grasp him. Huyck had a habit that had grown out of childhood. Always he would allow his opponent to commit himself. The professor did not answer. But the other spoke.
“Ether. You know it. Whether mind or granite. For instance, your desert.” He placed his finger to his forehead. “Your mind, my mind—localized ether.”
“What are you driving at?”
“Merely this. Your universe has intelligence. It has mind as well as matter. The little knot called the earth is becoming conscious. Your deductions are incompetent unless they embrace mind as well as matter, and they cannot do it. Your mathematics are worthless.”