Roysland said he didn't, and Osteban ordered something more potent. When the waiter brought it, he took a healthy swallow and then said: "Mind if I ask a question?"
"Ask to your heart's content," Roysland said. "You will, anyway. But I don't guarantee any answers."
"Did you ever?" He took another swallow of liquid. "What's in this rumor that the Enlissa have invented a gadget that drives people crazy?"
"I haven't heard any such rumor," Roysland said. It was a perfectly true statement, if a trifle incomplete.
"Did I ask if you'd heard it?" Osteban countered.
"Tell me something, Osteban," Roysland said seriously. "Did you ever use a declarative sentence in your life?"
"What do you mean? Let's quit the kidding, shall we? Didn't you understand my question—or are you playing dumb?" Osteban grinned as he said it, making it totally inoffensive.
Roysland flipped a coin, mentally. It came down tails, and Osteban lost. "I can't speak officially, of course," Roysland said, "I'll just have to be a 'reliable anonymous source.' But I can tell you this: We don't know what the Enlissa may or may not have; but we haven't lost any ships because of any insanity rays, or what have you."
"Is that a fact?" Osteban thought for a moment. "I guess it is or you wouldn't say it, would you?"
They drank in silence for a few moments, then Osteban said: "All right, tell me something else, will you? These new aJ projectors have been on active duty for half a year or so, haven't they? They're supposed to be hot stuff, right? Then why is it that they haven't destroyed any enemy ships? Why is it that all the communiques always say: 'The Enlissa ship was finally destroyed by ultralight torpedoes.'"