Selene said, intensely, “But here’s my point. Is the Pump dangerous or is it not? I mean, the truth, and not what anyone wants to believe.”

“I should ask you that. You’re the Intuitionist. What does your intuition say?”

“But that’s what bothers me, Ben. I can’t make it really certain either way. I tend to feel the Pump is harmful, but maybe that’s because I want to believe that.”

“All right. Maybe you do. Why?”

Selene smiled ruefully and shrugged her shoulders. “It would be fun for Barron to be wrong. When he thinks he’s certain, he’s so vituperatively certain.”

“I know. You want to see his face when he’s forced to back down. I’m well aware of how intense such a desire can be. For instance, if the Pump were dangerous and I could prove it, I might conceivably be hailed as the savior of humanity, and yet I swear that I’d be more interested in the look on Hallam’s face. I’m not proud of that feeling so I suspect that what I’ll do is insist on an equal share of the credit with Lamont, who deserves it after all, and confine my pleasure to watching Lament’s face when he watches Hallam’s face. The pettishness will then be one place removed.... But I’m beginning to speak nonsense.... Selene?”

“Yes, Ben?”

“When did you find out you were an Intuitionist?”

“I don’t quite know.”

“You took physics in college, I imagine.”

“Oh, yes. Some math, too, but I was never good at that. Come to think of it, I wasn’t particularly good in physics, either. I used to guess the answers when I was desperate; you know, guess what I was supposed to do to get the right answers. Very often, it worked and then I would be asked to explain why I had done what I did and I couldn’t do that very well. They suspected me of cheating but could never prove it.”

“They didn’t suspect Intuitionism?”

“I don’t think so. But then, I didn’t either. Until—well, one of my first sex-mates was a physicist. In fact, he was the father of my child, assuming he really supplied the sperm-sample. He had a physics problem and he told me about it when we were lying in bed afterward, just to have something to talk about, I suppose. And I said, ‘You know what it sounds like to me?’ and told him. He tried it just for the fun of it, he said, and it worked. In fact, that was the first step to the Pionizer, which you said was much better than the proton synchrotron.”

“You mean that was your idea?” Denison put his finger under the dripping water and paused as he was about to put it in his mouth. “Is this water safe?”

“It’s perfectly sterile,” said Selene, “and it goes into the general reservoir for treatment. It’s saturated with sulfates, carbonates, and a few other items, however. You won’t like the taste.”

Denison rubbed his finger on his briefs. “You invented the Pionizer?”

“Not invented. I had the original concept. It took lots of development, mostly by Barren.”

Denison shook his head. “You know, Selene, you’re an amazing phenomenon. You should be under observation by the molecular biologists.”

“Should I? That’s not my idea of a thrill.”

“About half a century ago, there came the climax to the big trend toward genetic engineering—”

“I know. It flopped and was thrown out of court. It’s illegal now—that whole type of study—insofar as research can be made illegal. I know people who’ve done work on it just the same.”

“I dare say. On Intuitionism?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Ah. But that’s my point. At the height of the push for genetic engineering, there was this attempt to stimulate Intuitionism. Almost all the great scientists had intuitive ability, of course, and there was the feeling that this was the single great key to creativity. One could argue that superior capacity for intuition was the product of a particular gene combination and there were all sorts of speculations as to which gene combination that was.”

“I suspect that there are many possible types that would satisfy.”

“And I suspect that if you are consulting your intuition here, you are correct. But there were also those who insisted that one gene, or one small related group of genes, was of particular importance to the combination so that you might speak of an Intuition Gene.... Then the whole thing collapsed.”

“As I said.”

“But before it collapsed,” Denison went on, “there had been attempts to alter genes to increase the intensity of Intuitionism and there were those who insisted that some success had been achieved. The altered genes entered the gene pool, I’m positive, and if you happened to inherit— Were any of your grandparents involved in the program?”

“Not as far as I know,” said Selene, “but I can’t rule it out. One of them might have been, for all I can say. ... If you don’t mind, I’m not going to investigate the matter. I don’t want to know.”

“Perhaps not. The whole field grew fearfully unpopular with the general public and anyone who can be considered the product of genetic engineering would not exactly be greeted gladly.... Intuitionism, they said, for instance, was inseparable from certain undesirable characteristics.”

“Well, thank you.”

“They said. To possess intuition is to inspire a certain envy and enmity in others. Even as gentle and saint-like an Intuitionist as Michael Faraday aroused the envy and hatred of Humphry Davy. Who’s to say that it doesn’t take a certain flaw in character to be capable of arousing envy. And in your case—”

Selene said, “Surely, I don’t rouse your envy and hatred?”

“I don’t think so. What about Neville, though?”

Selene was silent.

Denison said, “By the time you got to Neville, you were well-known as an Intuitionist, I suppose.”

“Not well known, I would say. Some physicists suspected it, I’m sure. However, they don’t like to give up credit here any more than on Earth, and I suppose they convinced themselves, more or less, that whatever I had said to them was just a meaningless guess. But Barron knew, of course.”

“I see.” Denison paused.

Selene’s lips twitched. “Somehow I get the feeling that you want to say: ‘Oh, that’s why he bothers with you.’ ”

“No, of course not, Selene. You’re quite attractive enough to be desired for your own sake.”

“I think so, too, but every little bit helps and Barron was bound to be interested in my Intuitionism. Why shouldn’t he be? Only he insisted I keep my job as tourist guide. He said I was an important natural resource of the Moon and he didn’t want Earth monopolizing me the way they monopolized the synchrotron.”

“An odd thought. But perhaps it was that the fewer who knew of your Intuitionism, the fewer would suspect your contribution to what would otherwise be put to his sole credit.”

“Now you sound like Barron himself!”

“Do I? And is it possible he gets rather annoyed with you when your Intuitionism is working particularly well.”

Selene shrugged. “Barron is a suspicious man. We all have our faults.”

“Is it wise to be alone with me, then?”

Selene said, sharply, “Now don’t get hurt because I defend him. He doesn’t really suspect the possibility of sexual misbehavior between us. You’re from Earth. In fact, I might as well tell you he encourages our companionship. He thinks I can learn from you.”

“And have you?” asked Denison, coldly.

“I have.... Yet though that may be his chief reason for encouraging our friendship, it isn’t mine.”

“What’s yours?”

“As you well know,” said Selene, “and as you want to hear me say, I enjoy your company. Otherwise, I could get what I want in considerably less time.”

“All right, Selene. Friends?”

“Friends! Absolutely.”

“What have you learned from me, then? May I know?”

“That would take awhile to explain. You know that the reason we can’t set up a Pump Station anywhere we want to is that we can’t locate the para-Universe, even though they can locate us. That might be because they are much more intelligent or much more technologically advanced than we are—”