human
We're caught in a squeeze, and we've got to push both ways, Paul said.
gpt
If the Base goes down, Superman goes with it, and we've lost an opportunity that will never come again in our lifetimes. So we've got to do two things: We've got to give active support to the rebuilding of the Wheel, and we've got to develop some kind of show that will convince Oglethorpe that Superman is giving him what he wants. It will mean detouring our basic objectives, but it's necessary in order to have a project at all. I'd like you to take charge of it.
human
It'll be a waste of time, Barker said slowly.
gpt
I wonder if we'll ever get back on the track.
human
We'll have to gamble on it, said Paul.
gpt
I don't want you to feel I'm deliberately pushing you up a blind alley, but I think you're the best man for bringing up something we can sell Oglethorpe--while we try to do some real research on some honest goals.
human
We can follow the usual lines of so-called training--brute conditioning through shock and fear and pain and discomfort. Most of the men here are already well anaesthetized in that respect. Their breakdown level is high.
gpt
Cummins' was the highest, said Paul,
human
I've got a suggestion, he said.
gpt
Let's not get on the defensive about this thing. Why don't you propose a Senatorial investigation of Space Command?
human
Are you crazy? Why would we want to have them come out here and pick our bones to pieces before making final burial?
gpt
We've got a story to tell them--remember? We've got Superman, that's going to produce for the first time in the world's history a man adequate to go into the dangers of space. And there's that little story of yours about courage. I think that would go over with them. We'd be out in front if we took the initiative in this instead of just waiting until it rolled over us.
human
I wonder just what you're trying to do, he said finally.
gpt
I know you don't mean a word of what you're saying at all--
human
But I do mean it, Paul said earnestly.
gpt
I want Superman saved; you want the Wheel. It amounts to the same thing.
human
You could be right. You might even be telling the truth. I'll give it some thought.