“Al didn’t have to think, in our ordinary sense of the word, of how to make a weapon,” added Wayne. “His extensive knowledge of scientific principles and data co-ordinated in his mind to show him that …well, if my guess is right, that the colloids of human bodies are resonant to a particular wave form. And at once he knew all the factors he’d need to generate that wave. It wasn’t reason, as we reason, though it was thought—to him, thought on a very elementary, almost intuitive level. Yet he wasn’t able to think of telling anybody.”

“I see,” answered Boyd. “Humans think in chains. He thinks in networks.”

“Yes, that’s about the size of it.”

“Do you think…we…can ever do that?”

“Hm-m-m—I don’t know. Since intelligence seems to depend on upbringing among normal humans, whereas genius and feeble-mindedness seem more independent of environment, and are hereditary, one might argue that they are both mutations, in the individual or an ancestor. Some people, such as Nikola Tesla, seem to have had a degree of network-thought ability, and the fact that Al is the son of a mathematician, who does deal with complexities, is suggestive. After all, no observed mutation has ever created a totally new characteristic. It would have to create a whole new set of genes for that. A mutation is a greater or less modification of an existing characteristic.

“The point I’m making is that humans naturally think in straight lines, but some sort of network, total-considering logic has been developed. The semanticists have their nonelementalistic principle. In math, we only add in special cases, the rest of the time we integrate, and we have our generalized calculi of vectors and tensors and the like. But—it doesn’t come naturally. It’s been worked out slowly and painfully, through many centuries. To Al, it’s the natural way to think; but, as like most mutations it involves a loss elsewhere, the simple straightforward logic of humans is unnatural to him and since he is just a kid, and probably not a genius anyway—merely an ordinary network thinker—he hasn’t seen the principles of that logic, any more than a human his age sees the principle of nonelementalism. I’d say, offhand, that both types of mind can learn the other type of thought, but not comprehend or apply it on its higher levels.”

“There’s another thing,” put in Karen. Her eyes held a light which hadn’t been there for a long time. “Rod just said it. Al should be able, with the proper training, to learn logic, at least enough to understand and communicate. His kind of thought is not adapted to the simple problems of life, but he can be taught to handle those, as we teach human children to think in terms of abstractions. Maybe…maybe, then, he can teach us something.”

Boyd nodded again. “It’s certainly worth the attempt,” he said. “We have psychiatrists and other specialists at the capital. If we’d known before that you’re a mathematician, Wayne, we’d have asked you there, to join the science center with which President Drummond hopes to rebuild our culture on a basis of genuine sanity. Consider yourself invited as of now. And if we and Alaric can come to understand each other—why, Wayne, you may even get your biological and sociological math. Then we may be able to pull ourselves out of this planetary mess.”