"I knew you'd like that," Roysland said. "I thought maybe you could suggest something else. I can't."
"As I understand it," Eckisster said testily, "you want a human volunteer to test the Enlissa mindjammer on."
"That's right," Roysland said. "So far, all we've proven is that the backwash from the projector has no effect on humans or animals; but we don't know what happens to a man who's hit by the beam itself."
"Oh? We don't? I rather assumed that the fleet hospital's psychiatric wards were full of men who have been hit by the beam."
"An unjustified assumption," Roysland snapped. "At least, so far, it's unprovable. The point is: Do I or don't I have your permission to ask for a volunteer?"
"Why can't you use test animals?" Eckisster asked.
"If you'd bother to read the reports I send you, you'd know. We have used 'em. The beam didn't touch 'em. We sprayed one group for half an hour; and as far as anyone can tell, we might just as well have been shining a flashlight on them."
"Of course," Eckisster said. "The mindjammer causes a feedback loop in the prefrontal lobes. What do you expect it to do to animals with no prefrontal lobe?"
"My point exactly," Roysland agreed. He knew perfectly well that Eckisster had read the report completely and thoroughly. His pretended ignorance and snide remarks were just a mechanism he used for purposes of his own.
"The question is," Roysland repeated, "do I have your permission to ask for a volunteer?"