As far as I can recall, Lewis and I met only once. The encounter took place at Oxford in the well-known pub, the Eastgate. I was accompanied by my fellow Interplanetarian, Val Cleaver, and Lewis brought along a friend whose name I didn't catch. Needless to say, neither side converted the other, and we refused to abandon our diabolical schemes of interplanetary conquest. But a fine time was had by all, and when, some hours later, we emerged a little unsteadily from the Eastgate, Dr. Lewis' parting words were "I'm sure you're very wicked people—but how dull it would be if everyone was good". C. S. Lewis's friend? It was another Oxford don, one J. R. R. Tolkien, who I met again some years later [...]

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "As far as I can recall, Lewis and I met only once. The encounter took place at Oxford in the well-known pub, the Eastgate. I was accompanied by my fellow Interplanetarian, Val Cleaver, and Lewis brought along a friend whose name I didn't catch. Needless to say, neither side converted the other, and we refused to abandon our diabolical schemes of interplanetary conquest. But a fine time was had by all, and when, some hours later, we emerged a little unsteadily from the Eastgate, Dr. Lewis' parting words were "I'm sure you're very wicked people—but how dull it would be if everyone was good". C. S. Lewis's friend? It was another Oxford don, one J. R. R. Tolkien, who I met again some years later [...]" in the context of "Arthur C. Clarke. Ryder W. Miller, , ed. (2003), From Narnia to A Space Odyssey: The War of Ideas Between Arthur C. Clarke and C. S. Lewis, chapter: Preface (24 January, 2001), page: 35
• This took place after exchanging a few amicable letters concerning Clarke's critical remarks about Out of the Silent Planet in A Prelude to Space, pp. 98-99.
• For a similar version of this occasion, see "Post-Apollo Preface" (1975) in A Prelude to Space, pp. viii-ix." to mean that wisdom is timeless.