THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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The question, which he had been throwing at himself, angered him. "Why
didn't I just grab a couple of pistols and shoot the lot of them?" he
retorted. "It wouldn't have killed them any deader, and it wouldn't have
hurt as much."

"There is no Merlin. Is that it?"

He realized, suddenly, that his father had known, or suspected that all
along. He started to say something, then checked himself and began again:

"There never was one. I was going to tell them, but you saw them. I
couldn't."

"You're sure of it?"

"The whole thing's a myth. I'm quoting the one man in the Galaxy who
ought to know. The man who commanded the Third Force here during the War."