MacReedy puffed at his pipe, then said, "I'm doing these for Toby—in return for his services as delivery boy and all-around helper. I'm trying to teach him history in reverse."
"Odd concept," said the General.
"It works—doesn't it, Toby?" MacReedy said to the lad.
"Uncle Angus says it will help me when I take history in college," Toby said stoutly. "This is King Henry the Fifth at Agincourt—just like Sir Lawrence Olivier in the movie. And this is Genghis Khan. And here is Tamerlaine, and Charles Martel, and Caesar...."
"I see," said the General. He was a little overwhelmed at so much evidence of one man's individual craftsmanship and industry. He eyed the XT-101's with malevolent interest, then studied a nearly-finished weapon on the carving table. It looked like....
It was! One of the just-conceived, self-reloading rocket-launchers on armored mobile carriage with amphibious tractor-treads. He said, his voice dry and tight, "Where'd you get this, MacReedy?"
MacReedy wandered over to stand beside him. He said, "I didn't get it anywhere; it just seems like the logical next step in ordnance, General. I've had pretty good luck in the past, figuring things out this way. I had the Sherman tank plotted back in nineteen-forty—just before I was drafted. I hadn't dared trust my hunches till I saw my first one two years later at Pine Camp."
"You were in the Army?"
"Six years," said MacReedy. "Two years here in camp and Officer's Candidate School, then two abroad—Sicily, Anzio and the Rhone Valley. I stopped a piece of shell near Lyon, and put in the rest of my time in hospital."
"Rough," said the General though he had neither the time nor the interest for sympathy. "Tell me how you 'figure' these things out. The Sherman tank, if you wish."