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The Astrono roouest

He said, "Where are the youngsters? My son isn&039;t in his room"

The Industrialist smiled "They&039;ve been out for hours However, breakfast was forced into the to worry about Youth, Doctor, youth!"

"Youth!" The word seemed to depress the Astronomer

They ate breakfast in silence The Industrialist said once, "You really think they&039;ll come The day looks so-normal";

The Astronomer said, "They&039;ll come"

That was all,

Afterward the Industrialist said, "You&039;ll pardonso elaborate a hoax You really spoke to them?"

"As I speak to you At least, in a sense They can project thoughts"

"I gathered that must be so from your letter Hoonder"

"I could not say I asked theue Or perhaps it was just that I could not understand It involves a projector for the focusing of thought and, even more than that, conscious attention on the part of both projector and receptor It was quite a while before I realized they were trying to think at ht projectors ive us"

"Perhaps," said the Industrialist "Yet think of the changes it would bring to society A thought projector!"

"Why not? Change would be good for us"

"I don&039;t think so"

"It is only in old age that change is unwelcome," said the Astronomer, "and races can be old as well as individuals"

The Industrialist pointed out the"You see that road It was built Beforethewars I don&039;t know exactly when It is as good now as the day it was built We couldn&039;t possibly duplicate it now The race was young when that was built, eh?"

"Then? Yes! At least they weren&039;t afraid of new things"

"No I wish they had been Where is the society of Beforethewars? Destroyed, Doctor! What good were youth and new things? We are better off now The world is peaceful and jogs along The race goes nowhere but after all, there is nowhere to go They proved that The men who built the road I will speak with your visitors as I agreed, if they coo"

"The race is not going nowhere," said the Astrono toward final destruction My university has a smaller student body each year Fewer books are written Less work is done An old , but each day finds him nearer death all the same"

"Well, well," said the Industrialist

"No, don&039;t disated your position in the planetary economy"

"And you found

"Why, yes Oh, I see, you are joking And yet-perhaps the joke is not far off You are less solvent than your father and he was less solvent than his father Perhaps your son will no longer be solvent It becomes too troublesome for the planet to support even the industries that still exist, though they are toothpicks to the oak trees of Beforethewars We will be back to village economy, and then to what? The caves?"

"And the infusion of fresh technological knowledge will be the changing of all that?"

"Not just the neledge Rather the whole effect of change, of a broadening of horizons Look, sir, I chose you to approach in this overnment officials, but because you had an unusual reputation, for these days, of daring to break with tradition Our people will resist change and you would kno to handle them, how to see to it that-that-"

"That the youth of the race is revived?"

"Yes"

"With its atomic bombs?"

"The atomic bombs," returned the Astronomer, "need not be the end of civilization These visitors of mine had their atomic bomb, or whatever their equivalent was on their oorlds, and survived it, because they didn&039;t give up Don&039;t you see? It wasn&039;t the bomb that defeated us, but our own shell shock This may be the last chance to reverse the process"

"Tell me," said the Industrialist, "what do these friends from space want in return?"

The Astronomer hesitated He said, "I will be truthful with you They cohter atonesiuen They want coal and oil"