"I'm a bit confused," Lambert confessed. "You would have to go around inspecting the machines constantly for stability."
"And use a gauge? No. Too much trouble. An unstable machine can do damage. So we do this—we put a little governor on the machine. When the speed passes the safety mark, the machine breaks."
"But this is an analogy, Vonk Soobuknoora!" Lambert protested. "You can't put a governor on a man!"
"Man is born with a governor, Man Lambert. Look back in both our histories, when we were not much above the animal level. An unbalanced man would die. He could not compete for food. He could not organize the simple things of his life for survival. Man Lambert, did you ever have a fleeting impulse to kill yourself?"
Lambert smiled. "Of course. You could almost call that impulse a norm for intelligent species."
"Did it ever go far enough so that you considered a method, a weapon?"
Lambert nodded slowly. "It's hard to remember, but I think I did. Yes, once I did."
"And what would have happened," the Argonaut asked softly, "if there had been available to you in that moment a weapon completely painless, completely final?"