"That, I know and understand. Go on."
"Remember, I am his ideal personality, I am a physicist, a type of person he has always wanted to be. He couldn't be a physicist because of financial reasons and so he went into the engineering field to bolster up his bank account. That was eminently practical. But now that the worry about the bankroll is over, he can turn to theoretical physics and physical research. That's me—and I've won!"
"Suppose he, himself, takes the gradual retreat from engineering into physical research?"
"Um—I don't think he's capable of it. He's been too well conditioned."
"Might well be," admitted the doctor. "Well, as I said before, I'm just a referee. Both of you are well adjusted and good, worthy additions to society. Either one of you that wins will be a credit to civilization."
"You're a great help," laughed Thomas. "But I don't mind. This is my round, and it's my game. He's licked himself."
"I'll tell him that when I see him," said Dr. Hamilton. "But there is one thing that I must know. I want to know what makes that little tungsten box work."
"I cast the tungsten in—"
"I don't care how you made it," said Hamilton flatly, "unless it has a definite bearing on how it works."
"I made it of tungsten because the engineer would rip it apart if it weren't too tough," grinned Thomas. "Being of tungsten it doesn't matter how it works excepting it would have been more efficient if I'd made it of silver."