THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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They found a three-hundred-foot globular skeleton, probably the nucleus
of a big hyperspace ship, and decided that was big enough for what they
wanted. The entire colony got to work on it. Photoprinted plans and
specifications poured out as Jacquemont and a couple of draftsmen got
them up. Steel came out of the steel mill at one end while ore came in
at the other. A swarm of big contragravity machines, some robotic and
some human-operated, clustered around the skeletal hull like hornets
building a nest.[Pg 138]

Trisystem & Interstellar Spacelines was chartered; the lawyers reported
having to overcome a little more resistance than usual from the
Government about that. And the bill to nationalize Merlin, which had
died in committee, was resuscitated and was being debated hotly on the
floor of Parliament. The Administration was now supporting it.

"Are they completely crazy?" Conn wanted to know, when he heard about
that. "They pass that bill and nobody's going to look for Merlin if they