"What's this, Anina?"
He was holding in his palm a tiny metal cylinder.
Anina took it from him.
"For fire, see?"
She picked up a bit of driftwood, and, holding the end of the cylinder against it, pressed a little button. A curl of smoke rose from the wood, and in a moment a wisp of flame.
"A light‑ray!" Mercer exclaimed.
"The ray—but different."
She tossed the blazing bit of wood aside, and held her hand a foot or so in front of the cylinder.
"No danger! See?" She brought her hand closer. "Heat here—close—no heat far away."
Mercer understood then that this was not a light‑ray projector, but a method of producing heat with the property of radiation, but not of projection—a different and harmless form of the ray.