THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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Jacquemont and Nichols took charge of the work on the ship herself.
Chief Engineer Vibart, with a gang of half-taught, self-taught and
untaught helpers, went back to working the engines over, tearing out all
the safety devices that were intended to keep the ship inside planetary
atmosphere, and arranging the lift engines so that they could be swung
into line with the drive engines. There was a lot of cybernetic and
robotic equipment, and astrogational equipment, that had to be made from
scratch. Conn picked a couple of helpers and went to work on that.

From time to time, he was able to snatch a few minutes to read teleprint
papers or listen to audiovisual newscasts from Storisende. He was always
disappointed. There was much excitement about the new interplanetary
company, but the emphasis was all wrong. People weren't interested in
getting hyperships built, or opening the mines and factories on
Koshchei, or talking about all the things now in short supply that could
be produced there. They were talking about Merlin, and they were all
positive, now, that something found at Force Command Duplicate had