"I can't say what went wrong, but I think you missed something, way back at the beginning. After that, things got worse and you ran out of time. This is a pretty competitive place, you know, and we probably drop some pretty capable men, but that's the way it is."
"Sir, I'm certain I know—"
"It isn't enough to know. You've got to know better than a lot of other people."
Michaels got to his feet and came around the desk.
"Look, there's no disgrace in getting an academic tossout from here. You had to be way above average to get here. And very few people can make it for one year, let alone three or four."
He raised a hand as Stan started to speak.
"I know. You think it looks as though you'd broken down somehow. You didn't. From the day you came here, everyone looked for weaknesses. If there'd been a flaw, they'd have found it—and they'd have been on you till you came apart—or the flaw disappeared. We lose people that way." He shrugged.
"You didn't fall apart. They just got to you with some pretty rough theory. You don't have to bow your head to anybody about that."
Stan looked at the heavily barred door before him.