They heard her side and then asked for his. He gave his arguments simply and answered every point she brought up. There was rebuttal and rejoinder and finally open discussion.
"I claim that this man is not a qualified physicist," she stated firmly. "As such he has not the experience necessary to judge the validity of my argument."
"I admit that I hold no degrees," said Barden. "Neither did Thomas Edison. Is Miss Ward convinced that no man without a string of college degrees is qualified to do anything but dig ditches?"
That hurt, for the investigators were not blessed with doctor's degrees in philosophy; the scattering of LLDs were about half honorary degrees and their owners though gratified for the honor knew how it was earned.
"Of course not," snapped Miss Ward. "I merely state—"
"If Miss Ward is so firm in her belief, why doesn't she bring forth some experimental evidence. She has the entire holdings of the Solar Space Laboratory at her disposal. If this is as important as she claims, then the financial argument may be dispensed with. For no amount of money is capable of paying for total destruction of the solar system."
"I need no experiments," she snapped.
"Or is Miss Ward trying to tell us that any line of research that she does not sponsor is not worth bothering with? Or is she trying to stop me so that she can take up? Or has she started—late—and wants me stopped before I get to the answer. That would make the famous Solar Space Laboratory look slightly second-rate, wouldn't it."
"Gentlemen," cried Miss Ward facing the committee and ignoring Barden, "his statements are invidious. He is accusing me of jealousy, personal ambition, and egomania. This is not fair!"