THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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"What did he tell you?"

The old man had been incredibly thin and frail. Under normal
gravitation, his life would have gone out like a blown match. Even at
one-sixth G, it had cost him effort to rise and greet the guest. There
had been a younger man, a mere stripling of seventy-odd; he had been
worried, and excused himself at once. Travis had laughed after he had
[Pg 20]gone out.

"Mike Shanlee; my aide-de-camp on Poictesme. Now he thinks he's my
keeper. He'll have a squad of doctors and a platoon of nurses in here as
soon as you're gone, so take your time. Now, tell me how things are on
Poictesme...."

"Just about that," he told his father. "I finally mentioned Merlin, as
an old legend people still talked about. I was ashamed to admit anybody
really believed in it. He laughed, and said, 'Great Ghu, is that thing