"You have a rather extensive Terran education," he observed.
"Would any Terran be without an education?" she countered.
"Doubtless far superior to any normal person," he grunted, "thanks to that mental educating dingus of yours."
"And partly due to hard work," she said. "Give me some credit."
He smiled wanly. Then he snapped the instrument on and off and looked at the perfect plane with interest.
"Wonder if it might be possible to warp it into a perfect parabola," he said thoughtfully.
"I wouldn't know," she replied, "but it would make a fine telescope, wouldn't it?"
"Whole gear weighs about five pounds." He grinned. "The thousand-inch mirror would be a definite practicality. What we couldn't see with that!"
"Might as well go," she said humorously. "You're like the man who discovered motive power and then used it to yell over great distances with instead of going there."
"So far," he said seriously, "there's little to be gained by this gimmick. I'm like the first man on earth to own a telephone. I've no one to talk to."