THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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"Well, I don't have any such lofty ideas," Fawzi said. "I just want
Merlin to show us how to get some prosperity here; bring things back to
what they were before Poictesme went broke."

"And that's what Father and I are trying to do. You're going into the
woods with a book on how to chop down a tree, and no ax." Fawzi looked
at him in surprise, started to say something, and thought better of it.
"If we want prosperity, we need tools. Our problem is loss of markets.
If we find Merlin, and tape it with everything that's happened in the
forty years since it was shut down, Merlin will tell us where to find
new markets. But the markets won't come to us. We'll have to do our own
exporting, and we'll need[Pg 132] ships. Now, you men have been studying
about Merlin, and hunting for Merlin, all your lives. I can't add
anything to what you know, and neither can my father. You find Merlin,
and we'll have the ships ready when you do find it."

"Kurt, I think he has a point," somebody said.