"Out of the mouths of babes and probationers—" Sims said with gentle irony.
"It pays off," Lanceford replied doggedly. "Take my case. I've found out why the natives are insect-proof!"
"That's a new wrinkle. Can you prove it?"
"Certainly. I came the last hundred miles in shorts."
"What happened to your suit?"
"Kron destroyed it accidentally."
"Accidentally—hah!" Sims snorted. "Niobians never do things accidentally."
Lanceford looked sharply at the director. The observation carried a wealth of implications that his sharpened senses were quick to grasp. "Then you know the natives aren't simple savages, the way we were taught in Basic Training?"
"Of course! They're a non-technical Class V at the very least—maybe higher. Somehow they've never oriented their civilization along mechanical lines, or maybe they tried it once and found it wanting. But no one in the upper echelons has ever thought they were stupid or uncivilized."