"Yes?"
"I was wondering about something. Eventually, we're bound to find all the plans there are. What happens when there aren't anymore?"
"Maybe then there'll be time for that other stuff I caught you wasting time on in the ruin we were in last week!" There was a grin on Markten's thin face. "But not until!"
"No, seriously, Markten. The division academy instructors said there wasn't much left, and that was why we had to be especially well trained, to find what little more there is. But what about after we do, and there just isn't anymore?"
"Just—build more of what we've got, of course. What else would there be to do?"
"Well—well, you must be right. But Production sure will be dull."
There was only a thin edge of the sun still separating daylight from darkness as they forced entry into their tenth ruin, and Markten's tone was dejected.
"This," he said, "has been a day wasted, and there's little possibility that we'll come up with anything here. Better get out your night-lamp."
Markten's young assistant obeyed, and started working his way into one of the few still-standing corridors. He moved cautiously, remembering his training. When exploration of ruins of shattered masonry is indicated, guard against unnecessary vibrations.... The ruins yielded nothing but broken stone and twisted steel. There could, of course, be an obscured entrance to some lower level—many amazing documents had been discovered in the almost untouched lower levels of what had seemed totally destroyed buildings when viewed only from the gutted streets. That was why it took so long to search a city, even though there often seemed nothing left to search. There could always be some spot undetectable but intact....