to whom the word ‘stars’ was important enough to be worth
fourteen repetitions, despite the fact that the word doesn’t
seem to mean anything. I’m ready to think that if our makers
repeated a word even twice on a record that seems likely to
last forever, then it’s important for us to know what it
means.”
Layon stood up once more.
“All these extra universes and huge shallops and meaning-
less words1 can’t say that they don’t exist, but I don’t see
what difference it makes,” he said. “The Shars of a few
generation’s ago spent their whole lives breeding better algae
crops for us, and showing us how to cultivate them, instead
of living haphazardly on bacteria. Farther back, the Shars
devised war engines, and war plans. All that was work worth
doing. The Lavons of those days evidently got along without
the metal plate and its puzzles, and saw to it that the Shars
did, too. Well, as far as I’m concerned, you’re welcome to the
plate, if you like it better than crop improvementbut I
think it ought to be thrown away.”
“All right,” Shar said, shrugging. “If you don’t want it, that
ends the traditional interview. We’ll go our”
There was a rising drone from the table-top. The Para was
lifting itself, waves of motion passing over its cilia, like the
waves which went silently across the fruiting stalks of the
fields of delicate fungi with which the Bottom was planted.
It had been so silent that Lavon had forgotten it; he could tell
from Shar’s startlement that Shar had, too.
“This is a great decision,” the waves of sound washing