THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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At the same time, reports of the near completion of /Ouroboros II/ were
monopolizing the newscasts, to distract public attention from what was
happening at Force Command. Cargo was being collected for her; instead
of washing their feet in brandy, next year people would be drinking
water. Lorenzo Menardes had emptied his warehouses of everything over a
year old; so had most of the other distillers up and down the Gordon
Valley. Melon and tobacco planters were talking about breaking new
ground and increasing their cultivated acreage for the next year.
Agricultural machinery was in demand and bringing high prices. So were
stills, and tobacco-factory machinery. It began to look as though the
Maxwell Plan was really getting started.

It was decided to send the hypership to Baldur on her first voyage; that
was Wade Lucas's suggestion. He was going with her himself, to recruit
scientific and technical graduates from his alma mater, the University
of Paris-on-Baldur, and from the other schools there. Conn was
enthusiastic about that, remembering the so-called engineers on