you ignore
the fact that it isn't. I've played a game with the things the children
brought. I won it, one game."

Both men listened intently.

"I've been pretending," said Soames, "that I'm a member of the kids'
race, cast away like they are on Earth. As a castaway I know that things
can be done that the local savages--us--consider impossible. But I need
special materials to do them with. My civilization has provided them.
They don't exist here. But I refuse to sink to barbarism. Yet I can't
reconstruct my civilization. What can I do?"

* * * * *

The thin physicist suddenly raised his head. The short man looked up.

"I'll take what materials the savages of Earth can supply," said Soames.
"I'll settle for an approximation. And in practice, as a castaway in a
savage environment, I'll wind up with a civilization which isn't that of
the savages, and isn't of my own race, but in some ways is better than
either because it's tailored to fit the materials at hand and the
environment I'm in."

The short physicist said slowly:

"I think I see what you're driving at. But it's just an idea...."

"I tried it on that one-way heat conductor," said Soames. "I can't
duplicate it. But I've designed something that will mean nearly but not
quite what their cooking-pot does. Take a look at this."

He spread out the completed diagram of the first thing he'd worked on.
It was quite clear. He'd helped design the meteor-watch radar at Gissell
Bay, and his use of electronic symbols was normal. There was only one
part of the device that he'd needed to sketch in some detail. The thin
physicist traced the diagram.

"You've designed a coil with extremely low self-induction--"

"Not low," corrected Soames. "Negative. This has less than no
self-induction. It feeds back to instead of fighting an applied current.
Put any current in it, and it feeds back to increase the magnetism until
it reaches saturation. Then it starts to lose its magnetism and that
feeds back a counter-emf which increases the demagnetizing current until
it's saturated with opposite polarity. You get an alternating magnet,
which doesn't evolve heat because of its magnetic instability, but
absorbs heat trying to maintain its stability. This thing will absorb
heat from anywhere--the air, water, sunlight or what have you--and give
out electric current."

The two scientists stared, and traced the diagram again, and stared at
each other.