She tried to explain but they did not listen for they were busy with other thoughts. She was still crying, but inwardly now. She said, "Don't you see what he might have become within a few years?"
"Imagine hitting hyperspace without a shield," one Oholo said.
"It must have turned the ship inside out!"
"So the Knougs actually believed it was a weapon that did it!" another said, pleased.
Lauri said, woodenly, "He was very strong. He was almost as strong as I am. He would have become even stronger."
"There's no Knoug as strong as one of our best workers, Lauri."
"He was more than a Knoug," she insisted gently. "A Knoug would have just—just gone on being what he was."
She fell silent, remembering.
"It played hell with this planet," an Oholo said. "It'll take years to straighten it out."
"Not years," another said, looking down at the night. "No. I think not years. One of the governments we were primarily concerned with has been changed. The people finally got the chance to overthrow it, and they did. That's a good sign. I think our work will be easier now. It's always easier to rebuild than to change."