of course , even if , with his highly technical profession , by some freak mischance , the sight of the nun did inspire some unpleasant or even nasty thought , at least , when the smart ass sitting across from himsuddenly gifted with telepathylooked up to see who was thinking such a thing , he would see a technically informed professional sitting across the aislemaybe even with a briefcase on his lap -- and at least have the decency to be shocked that such a seemingly respectable person would be entertaining such nasty thoughts .