"What is it, a chop stick?"
"Touch it to your head, above the ear."
"What does it do—give you a massage?"
I pressed it to my temple....
I was in a grey-walled room, facing a towering surface of ribbed metal. I reached out, placed my hands over the proper perforations. The housings opened. For apparent malfunction in the quaternary field amplifiers, I knew, auto-inspection circuit override was necessary before activation——
I blinked, looked around at the yellow table, and piled books, the rod in my hand.
"I was in some kind of powerhouse," I said. "There was something wrong with—with...."
"The quaternary field amplifiers," Foster said.
"I seemed to be right there," I said. "I understood exactly what it was all about."
"These are technical manuals," Foster said. "They'll tell us everything we need to know about the ship."