"That's our awkward position. We cannot show you anything that will support our statement. We can profess the attitudes of honesty, truth, honor, good-will, altruism, and every other word that means the same thing. We can talk until doomsday and nothing will be said."
"So where is all this getting us?" I asked.
"I hope it is beginning to cause your mind to doubt the preconceived notion," he said. "Ask yourself why any outfit such as ours would deliberately show you evidence."
"I have it and it does not make sense."
He smiled. "Precisely. It does not."
Fred Macklin interrupted, "Look, Dad, why are we bothering with all this guff?"
"Because I have hopes that Mr. Cornell can be made to see our point, to join, as it were, our side."
"Fat chance," I snapped.
"Please, I'm your elder and not at all inclined to waste my time. You came here seeking information and you shall have it. You will not believe it, but it will, I hope, fill in some blank spots after you have had a chance to compare, sort, and use your own logic on the problem. As a mechanical engineer, you are familiar with the line of reasoning that we non-engineering people call Occam's Razor?"
"The law of least reaction," I said automatically.