THE COSMIC COMPUTER

Back Forward Menu

better than half finished. There was a collapsium[Pg 101] plant at
Storisende Spaceport, but Yves Jacquemont said it was only half the size
of the one at Barathrum; it would be three months before it could
produce armor for one, let alone both, ships.

The crackpots were getting into the act, now, too. A spirit medium on
the continent of Acaire, to the north, had produced a communication
purporting to originate with a deceased Third Force Staff officer, now
in the Spirit World. There was considerable detail, all ludicrous to
Conn's professional ear. And a fanatic in one of the small towns on the
west coast was quoting the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavadgita to
prove that if Merlin were ever found, Divine vengeance in a spectacular
form would fall not only on Poictesme but on the entire Galaxy.

The spaceship that was building at Storisende got into the news;
on-screen, it appeared that the work was progressing rapidly. So was the
work of demolishing a block of empty buildings to get girders for the