"Long ago we became interested when tourists told us about the curious block-buildings on Vinin. Our physics boys worked out an ingenious device for analyzing their atmosphere. It was a little machine concealed in the lining of an ordinary air-freight crate, as I recall.
"A machine is quite objective, Edward—and Customs men don't stamp freight crates with the negative adaptors. When we learned that a Vininese fleet was going to land here we simply issued insulating helmets to all our people and let them come. As soon as we destroyed their portable transmitters the Vininese army proved quite adaptable to a new environment."
"Then—I did nothing to help when I destroyed their fleet?"
"Unfortunately you wounded two of our mechanics."
"I'm a traitor, Dr. Kramer. Even when I try I can't redeem myself!"
"Only on Vinin can you betray an external absolute, Edward. To an Agronian all objective concepts are relative to the subjective interpretations made by each individual. You can only be a traitor to yourself."
"The words are pleasant to say to a sick man but the fact remains—I would have betrayed Agron."
"But you didn't. Why not?"
"When I saw what their efficiency really meant—"