human
They tell me, O'Mera said,
gpt
It's not bad, said Cantor, confidentially,
human
You talk as if you flew over the Alps every morning before breakfast, said O'Mera, with a laugh.
gpt
I didn't know you had even been off the ground.
human
Did I say I had been, eh? Cantor said, a trifle tipsily.
gpt
Did I say I was a flyer? Tell me that? No, I just told you _how_ to fly. Very different thing. Everybody knows _how_ to fly. Books are full of it. I could read it out of books, couldn't I?
human
I suppose you could, said O'Mera, a bit belligerently,
gpt
Maybe it was, and maybe it wasn't. What's the difference, anyhow? He drained his glass and looked about for the waiter.
human
You wanted to be told, and I told you. And I told you _right_.... Who said I was ever up in the air?
gpt
And who said I wasn't?
human
Search me,
gpt
Well, let me tell you something, O'Mera, something about the Alps.... They can be flown over--because they _have_ been flown over. Yes, sir, right from one side to the other.... And who was the first man that did it? Tell me that.
human
I haven't the least idea. Ask yourself the answer.
gpt
What difference does it make--so long as somebody was the first to do it? Somebody had to be first, before there could be a second. First comes first--second comes second. He emptied another glass and set a cigarette unsteadily in his lips. All the while he peered at O'Mera with supercilious and sardonic humor.
human
That's _fact_--isn't it?
gpt
Sounds logical.
human
Over the top--from the plains on one side to the plains on the other.... Who was the first man that did it? You'd like to know. He lowered his voice confidentially and said in a stage whisper,
gpt
You'll have to ask somebody else.