'If it helps you any,' said Kin. 'Jago Jalo was insane even by the standards of an insane age.'
IT BECAME OBVIOUS. WE HAD NOT CONSIDERED THAT ANY RACE WOULD SEND ITS MADMEN INTO SPACE.
'In a ship like this, only a madman would go.'
HE CAME TO THE HUB WITH A DEMOUNTED GEOLOGICAL LASER. HE KILLED THE CHAIRMAN OF THE TIME.
'You didn't try to stop him?'
WE WERE NOT INSTRUCTED TO DO SO. BESIDES, THE MAN WAS OBVIOUSLY FROM A TECHNOLOGICAL CULTURE. WE HAD TO WEIGH THE FUTURE OF THE DISC. HE ORDERED US TO BUILD HIM A SHIP. IT WAS NOT DIFFICULT. WE CALCULATED THAT IF WE ASSISTED JAGO JALO BACK TO HIS HOME WORLD IT WOULD NOT BE LONG BEFORE WE HAD FURTHER VISITORS. THEREFORE WE SENT WITH HIM ONE OF OUR SPY BIRDS -- THE RAVENS, THE EYES OF GOD, OUR BEAUTIFULLY CREATED BIRDS.
"Then why didn't you contact us as soon as we arrived? Hell, I've had fleas, I've nearly been burned alive, I was shoved in a seraglio--'
WE DECIDED TO OBSERVE YOU FIRST. WE COULD NOT BE SURE THAT JALO WAS AN EXCEPTION AND THEN THE FOUR-ARMED CREATURE ADDED WEIGHT TO OUR SUSPICIONS.
Kin watched the letters fade. She said: 'You know that we can build worlds. Proper worlds. Planets. We could build a planet for the Disc people. You know it is a fair copy of my home world?'
YES.
'Do you know why?'
YES.
'Will you tell me?'
The screen stayed blank for several seconds. Then it was filled with words, so many that the Computers had had to reduce the size of the letters. Kin stood up and read:
YOU WISH TO KNOW ABOUT THE DISC BUILDERS. YOU WISH TO KNOW THE REASONS BEHIND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DISC. WE CAN TELL YOU. BUT IT IS OUR ONLY BARGAINING COUNTER ON BEHALF OF OUR CHILDREN. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT YOU COULD LEAVE AND RETURN TO PLUNDER THE DISC, AS JALO HAD INTENDED. WE COULD NOT STOP YOU. YET WE REALIZE THAT KNOWLEDGE IS A PRIZE YOU GREATLY DESIRE. WE WILL GIVE YOU KNOWLEDGE. YOU WILL BUILD A NEW WORLD FOR OUR PEOPLE.
Kin had already been considering it. It would mean building a G-type star within a few light-minutes of the Disc, unless there was a suitable one that could be moved . . .
'We'd need access to Disc technology,' she said. Teleportation, the force-grow vat theories, the lot.'
YOU WOULD HAVE IT, OF COURSE.
'Then you will have your new world. If the Company won't do it, I could float a Company of my own with that bait. I could go to one of the small operators -- yes, I'll do it.'
WE HAVE A BARGAIN.
'Just like that? You don't need any -- well, I guess I can't give you any sureties,' said Kin, surprised.
WE HAVE OBSERVED YOU. WE ESTIMATE THERE IS A 99.87 PER CENT CHANCE THAT YOU WILL HONOUR THE BARGAIN. DON THE HELMET.
Kin looked up at the padded metal rim above her head.
WE TRUST YOU. TRUST US. THE HELMET WILL LINK YOU TO CERTAIN CIRCUITS DESIGNED FOR THIS SITUATION. WE CAN GIVE YOU NOT INFORMATION BUT KNOWLEDGE, THAT YOU WILL OBTAIN NOWHERE ELSE IN THE UNIVERSE.
'The purpose of life is to find things out,' said Kin doubtfully.
YES. WHO WOULD SHUN KNOWLEDGE?
Kin sighed, reached up, grasped, pulled.
