THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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"Yes. A computer can only process the data that's been taped into it,"
Conn said. That was a point he wanted to ram home, as forcibly and as
often as possible. "I suppose[Pg 37] Merlin classified an Alliance
attack on Poictesme as a low-order probability, but war is the province
of chance; Clausewitz said that a thousand years ago. Foxx Travis wasn't
the sort of commander to let himself get caught, even by a very
low-order probability."

"Well how do you explain the absence, after forty years, of any mention,
in any history of the War, of Merlin? How do you get around that?"

"I don't have to. How do you get around it?"

"/Huh?/" Lucas was startled.

"Yes. Stories about Merlin were all over Poictesme, all through the
Third Force, even to the enemy. Say the stories were unfounded; say