"What do you intend to do?"
"I intend to conquer them all!"
"You deluded idiot—"
"Look, Neville, I've got this," and Guy slapped the mind instrument. "I've got this," and Guy waved a hand at the field, teeming with its workmen, awakened from the vortex-induced sleep. "And, I've got this!" and Guy pointed outside to the great vortex projector that stood on the ordnance field. "Do you think I can be beaten?"
"Eventually, you will. No dictator ever held out against the entire System."
"I don't intend to hold out. All I want to do," said Guy pointedly, "is to set up this mind-reading, thought-beam instrument on every planet, in every congress, in every voting booth, and in every home! Then we'll see what happens to warmongers, hate-raisers, and petty politicians! The will of the people is to work in peace, and peace they will get when each knows the will of the other, alien races. Fear drives men to fight, Neville, and if any group decides to get up and run things, the vast majority will know it first."
"It'll destroy our privacy," whispered Neville.
"With everyone wearing one, the effects cancel pretty well," said Guy. "Except when the wearer intends to have his thoughts read. And the larger models, set in voting places and congressional groups, will be used to broadcast on frequencies open to anyone who cares to listen. I don't intend that this thing will be used to deprive people of their right to think as they please, but it can be used wisely and well to prevent criminal cliques, ill-advised minorities, and individual criminals."
"It won't work."
"That I want to see for myself. At any rate, either we put a stop to this warfare that will leave Sol lifeless or we will never be able to look up into the sky ourselves."