Stranger in a Strange Land

simply vanished."
                "I guess it did," Jubal admitted, looking all around the room and chewing his thumb. "Anne, were you watching?"
                "Yes."
                "What did you see?"
                "The box did not simply vanish. The process was not quite instantaneous but lasted some measurable fraction of a second. From where I am sitting it appeared to shrink very, very rapidly, as if it were disappearing into the far distance. But it did not go outside the room, for I could see it right up to the instant it disappeared."
                "But where did it go?"
                "That is all I can report."
                "Mmm ... we'll run off the films later-but I'm convinced. Mike-"
                "Yes, Jubal?"
                "Where is that box now?"
                "The box is-" Smith paused. "Again I have not words. I am sorry."
                "I'm not sorry, but I'm certainly confused. Look, son, can you reach in again and haul it out? Bring the box back here?"
                "Beg pardon?"
                "You made it go away; now make it come back."
                "How can I do that? The box is nor."
                Jubal looked very thoughtful. "If this method ever becomes popular, we'll have to revise the rules concerning corpus delecti. 'I've got a little list they never will be missed.' Jill, let's find something else that will make a not-quite-lethal weapon; this time I'm going to keep my eyes open. Mike, how close do you have to be to do this trick?"
                "Beg pardon?"
                "What's your range? If you had been standing out there in the hallway and I had been clear back by the window-oh, say thirty feet-could you have stopped that box from hitting me?"
                Smith appeared mildly surprised. "Yes."
                "Hmm ... come over here by the window. Now look down there at the swimming poo1. Suppose that Jill and I had been over on the far side of the pool and you had been standing right where you are. Could you have stopped the box from here?"
                "Yes, Jubal."
                "Well ... suppose Jill and I were clear down the road there at the gate, a quarter of a mile away. Suppose we were standing just this side of those bushes that shield the gate, where you could see us clearly. Is that too far?"
                Smith hesitated a long time, then spoke slowly. "Jubal, it is not the distance. It is not the seeing. It is the knowing."
                "Hmm ... let's see if I grok it. Or grok part of it. It doesn't matter how far or how close a thing is. You don't even have to see it happening. But if you know that a bad thing is happening, you can reach out and stop it. Right?"
                Smith looked slightly troubled. "Almost it is right. But I am not long out of the nest. For knowing I must see. But an Old One does not need eyes to know. He knows. He groks. He acts. I am sorry."
                "I don't know what you are sorry about, son," Jubal said gruffly. "The High Minister for Peace would have declared you Top Secret ten minutes ago."
                "Beg pardon?"
                "Never mind. What you do is quite good enough in this vicinity." Jubal returned to his desk, looked around thoughtfully and picked up a ponderous metal ash tray. "Jill, don't aim at my face this time; this thing has sharp corners. Okay, Mike, you stand clear out in the hallway."
                "Jubal ... my brother . . . please not!"
                "What's the trouble, son? You did it beautifully a few minutes ago. I want one more demonstration-and this time I won't take my eyes off it."
                "Jubal-"
                "Yes, Jill?"
                "I think I grok what is bothering Mike."
                "Well, tell me then, for I don't."
                "We set up an experiment where I was about to hurt you by hitting you with that box. But both of us are his water brothers-so it upset Mike that I even tried to hurt you. I think there is something very unMartian about such a situation. It puts Mike in a dilemma. Divided loyalty."
                Harshaw frowned. "Maybe it should be investigated by the Committee on un-Martian Activities."