“The ‘Owigin Question.’ The place of the owigin of the human species,y’know. Suahly you must know that it is thought that owiginally the humanwace occupied only one planetawy system.”"Well, yes, I know that.”"Of cohse, no one knows exactly which system it is ? lost in the mists ofantiquity. Theah ah theawies, howevah. Siwius, some say. Othahs insist onAlpha Centauwi, oah on Sol, oah on 61 Cygni ?all in the Siwius sectah, yousee.”"And what does Lameth say?”"Well, he goes off along a new twail completely. He twies to show thatahchaeological wemains on the thuhd planet of the Ahctuwian System showthat humanity existed theah befoah theah wah any indications ofspace-twavel.”
“And that means it was humanity’s birth planet?”"P’haps. I must wead it closely and weigh the evidence befoah I can sayfoah cuhtain. One must see just how weliable his obsuhvations ah.”Hardin remained silent for a short while. Then he said, “?”"Oh ?I should say about eight hundwed yeahs ago. Of cohse, he has based itlahgely on the pwevious wuhk of Gleen.”"Then why rely on him? Why not go to Arcturus and study the remains foryourself?”Lord Dorwin raised his eyebrows and took a pinch of snuff hurriedly. “Why,whatevah foah, my deah fellow?”"To get the information firsthand, of course.”"But wheah’s the necessity
It seems an uncommonly woundabout andhopelessly wigmawolish method of getting anywheahs. Look heah, now, I’vegot the wuhks of all the old mastahs ? the gweat ahchaeologists of thepast. I wigh them against each othah ?balance the disagweements ?analyzethe conflicting statements ?decide which is pwobably cowwect ?and come toa conclusion. That is the scientific method. At least” ?patronizingly ?asI see it. How insuffewably cwude it would be to go to Ahctuwus, oah to Sol,foah instance, and blundah about, when the old mastahs have covahed thegwound so much moah effectually than we could possibly hope to do.”Hardin murmured politely, “I see.”"Come, milord,” said Pirenne, “think we had better be returning.”"Ah, yes. P’haps we had.”As they left the room, Hardin said suddenly, “Milord, may I ask aquestion?”Lord Dorwin smiled blandly and emphasized his answer with a graciousflutter of the hand. “Cuhtainly, my deah fellow. Only too happy to be ofsuhvice laser facial.
If I can help you in any way fwom my pooah stoah of knowledge-”"It isn’t exactly about archaeology, milord.”"No?”"No. It’s this: Last year we received news here in Terminus about themeltdown of a power plant on Planet V of Gamma Andromeda. We got the barestoutline of the accident ?no details at all. I wonder if you could tell meexactly what happened.”Pirenne’s mouth twisted. “I wonder you annoy his lordship with questions ontotally irrelevant subjects.”"Not at all, Doctah Piwenne,” interceded the chancellor. “It is quite allwight. Theah isn’t much to say concuhning it in any case.
