"Walking. I talked to four men. I mentioned no subject in the province of the filter center."
"Every subject is in the province of the filter center. And you know that our work here is confidential."
"Yes, sir, but I do not understand the import of my work here. I would not be able to give out information that I do not have."
"A popular misconception. There are others who might understand the import of it, and be able to reconstruct it from what you tell them. How do you feel?"
"Nervous, unwell, my tongue is furred, my kidneys—"
"Ah yes, there will be someone here this afternoon to fix your kidneys. I had not forgotten. Is there anything that you want to tell me?"
"No, sir."
Colonel Cooper had the habit of asking that of his workers in the manner of a mother asking a child if he wants to go to the bathroom. There was something embarrassing in his intonation.
Well, he did want to tell him something, but he didn't know how to phrase it. He wanted to tell the colonel that he had newly acquired the power of knowing everyone in the world, that he was worried how he could hold so much in his head that was not noteworthy for its capacity. But he feared ridicule more than he feared anything else and he was a tangle of fears.
But he thought he would try it a little bit on his co-workers.