"Fighting time is most difficult when you are behind," remarked Toralen Ki. "When you are ahead, it is no longer a fight."
"We must move swiftly and yet we can do nothing to cause haste. Confound it, must a man always be pinched between the urgency and the impossible?"
"Certainly. It makes one feel the ease of life during the times of no-stress."
"Some day I hope to see a period of no-stress that is longer than one tenth the duration of the trouble before and after it."
"You may," smiled Toralen Ki. "But there will be no after."
"Gloomy thought. I'll forget it, thank you. But to change the gloomy subject, I suggest that we contact Tlembo and let our ruler know that we have, in part, been successful."
"Right. I wish we were artists. So much can be conveyed to others by mere pictures."
Hotang Lu shook his head. "How could you possibly sketch the operation of a suppressor? Perhaps they could do it, for they seem to have advanced the art of thought-conveyance through pictures to a high degree. But recall that no Tlemban ever considered the art a necessary one and so we lack the technique."
"I know."
"After we contact Tlembo, when can we say we are to start?"