"But mechanical evolution—?"
"Not ridiculous as you might think," said Vinson. "What is mutation? Only what we might call an 'engineering change in design'."
"You make it sound terribly logical," said Admiral Sarne. "But what are we to do?"
"Narina and I intend to investigate this cube."
Lloyd nodded glumly. "We might stand guard, but how can you stand guard with a gun that might not fire?"
"Yes, Vinson; if as you state only machines with the rudimentary electronic nervous system can be under mechanistic control, why then did our gunners find themselves unable to even press the mechanical triggers? This was after they found the fire-control devices inoperable."
"Such a simple lever and spur device would, of course, have nothing equivalent to muscle—"
"Equivalent to muscle?" exploded Admiral Sarne.
"Of course. A servo mechanism is an electronic muscle. Anyway, lacking such ability to resist force, some other means—perhaps some sort of super-powerful magnetic was in operation."
"Powerful enough to keep a sliver of steel tight against a block of steel against hammering?"