"You recognized her voice?"
"Yes."
Huston looked at Paul sympathetically. "I hope for your sake—as well as hers—that she is alive."
Paul grunted. "I've been a sucker."
Huston laughed at him. "And you'll be a sucker again, Paul. Forget it, for the moment. We're all suckers. It makes life interesting that way. You get going and see what you can do. Remember, I'll not hamper any progress. But we will most certainly see to it that any negative reports are multiplied by Minus One before they are made public."
"So—"
"Get what you need for experimentation and see that you make an ostentatious show of it. Drop a few hints about the Galactic Network and make a long-range prediction that within a year or two people can pick up a telephone and talk to friends on Terra."
Paul eyed Huston. "That won't be hard. I'm convinced—"
"Just be properly vague and un-specific. If you've got to talk at length, take a verbal swing at Haedaecker. Leave the political angle out of it; this is strictly science and you're a scientist and not a politician. Besides you've spent so much time a-space that you've lost voting residence anyway. This is at least a free chance for you to work, Grayson."
"I'm not too pleased at the basic conditions," said Paul, "but I am pleased at any chance to do something about the Z-wave."