THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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they had dropped whatever they were doing, piled into such ships as were
completed, and lifted away.

The mushroom-topped tower rose from the middle of a circular building
piled level on level, almost half a mile across. He circled over it, saw
an airship dock, and called the /Harriet Barne/ while Jacquemont talked
to Jerry Rivas, piloting the manipulator-boat. Rivas came in and joined
them in the air; they hovered over the dock and helped the ship down
when she came in, nudging her into place.

By the time Conn and Jacquemont and Rivas and Anse Dawes and Roddell and
Youtsko and Karanja were out on the dock in oxygen helmets, the ship's
airlock was opening and Nichols and Vibart and the others were coming
out, towing a couple of small lifters loaded with equipment.

The airlocked door into the building, at the end of the dock, was
closed; when somebody pulled the handle, it refused to open. That meant