"As sure as we can be of anything that hasn't been tried. Ninety-percent probability, say—certainly not over ninety-five."
"Good enough odds." Haynes turned to the commandant. "What do you mean, you old reprobate, by sneaking around behind my back and horning in on my reservation? I rate Unattached, too, you know, and it's mine. You're out, von."
"I saw it first and I refuse to relinquish." Von Hohendorff was adamant.
"You've got to," Haynes insisted. "He isn't your cub any more; he's my Lensman. Besides, I'm a better test than you are—I've got more parts to replace than you have."
"Four or five make just as good a test as a dozen," the commandant declared.
"Gentlemen, think!" the Posenian pleaded. "Please consider that the pineal is actually inside the brain. It is true that I have not been able to discover any brain injury so far, but the process has not yet been applied to a reasoning brain and I can offer no assurance whatever that some obscure injury will not result."
"What of it?" and the two old Unattached Lensmen resumed their battle, hammer and tongs. Neither would yield a millimeter.
"Operate on them both, then, since they are both above law or reason," Lacy finally ordered in exasperation. "There ought to be a law to reduce Gray Lensmen to the ranks when they begin to suffer from ossification of the intellect."
"Starting with yourself, perhaps?" the admiral shot back, not at all abashed.