Hunt looked around him. The unoccupied Ganymeans gathered round the room to witness these proceedings seemed to be waiting patiently for something to happen. Above them, framed in panorama on the main viewing screen, was the image of Jupiter Five, still riding five miles off. The sudden sight of something familiar and reassuring among all these strange surroundings at once swept
away the dreamlike paralysis that had slowly been creeping over him. He looked down at the wrist unit again, shrugged, and touched the button that the giant had indicated.
“I am ZORAC. Good afternoon.”
Hunt looked up again and turned to see who had spoken, but nobody was even looking at him. A puzzled frown formed on his face.
“You are who?” He heard the same voice again. Hunt looked from side to side and behind him again, completely bewildered. He noticed that one or two of the other Earthmen were acting in the same strange manner, and that a couple of them had started to mumble, apparently to themselves. And then he realized that the voice was coming from the earpiece he was wearing. It was the voice of the Ganymean interpreter that he had first heard on 15. In the same split second it dawned on him that the throat-piece was a microphone. Feeling, for a moment, slightly self-conscious at the thought of appearing as ridiculous as his colleagues, he replied, “Hunt.”
“Earthmen talk to me. I talk to Ganymeans. I translate.”
Hunt was taken completely by surprise. He had not expected to have to play so active a role in whatever developed, having seen himself more as an observer; now he was being invited to participate directly in the dialogue. For a moment he was nonplused because no intelligent continuation suggested itself.
Then, not wishing to give an impression of rudeness, he asked:
“Where are you?”
“Different parts in different places in the Shapieron. I am not a Ganymean. I am a machine. I believe the Earth word is computer. . .” A short pause followed, then: “Yes. I was correct. I am a computer.”
“How did you manage to check that out so fast?” Hunt queried.
“I am sorry. I do not understand that question yet. Can you say it more simply please?”
Hunt thought for a second.
“You did not understand the word computer the first time. You did understand it the second time. How did you know?”
“I asked the Earthman who is talking to me in the egg inside Jupiter Five.”
Hunt marveled as he realized that ZORAC was no mere computer, but a supercomputer. It was capable of conducting and
learning from independent and simultaneous conversations. That went a long way toward explaining the phenomenal progress it was making in its comprehension of English and accounted for its ability to memorize every detail of information without need for repetition. Hunt had seen some of Earth’s most advanced language-translation machines in action on several occasions; compared to them ZORAC was staggering.
For the next few minutes the Ganymeans remained silent spectators while the Earthmen familiarized themselves with ZORAC and with the facilities that they now enjoyed for communicating both with it and through it. The headbands were miniature TV cameras through which the scene perceived by a wearer could be transmitted directly into the machine. The view from any headband could be presented on any wrist screen, as could any other item of information capable of graphic representation and available from the ship’s computer complex. ZORAC-a collective name for this complex-provided not only a versatile mechanism enabling individuals to access and interact with the ship’s many facilities, but also an extremely sophisticated means for individuals to communicate among themselves. And all this was merely a sideline; ZORAC’s prime function was that of supervising and controlling just about everything in the Shapieron. That was why the instrument panels and consoles were so simple and straightforward in general appearance; most operations were carried out by means of vocal commands to ZORAC.
Once ZORAC had introduced itself to all the newcomers, the serious business of the day resumed once more with Storrel conducting a more productive dialogue with Garuth, the Ganymean mission commander. From the discussion it appeared that the S/iapieron had indeed come from another star system to which it had gone long before for the purpose of conducting a scientific mission of some complexity. A catastrophe had befallen the expedition and forced them to depart in haste, without time to prepare for a long voyage; the situation was exacerbated by technical problems relating to the ship itself, though their precise nature remained obscure. The voyage had been long and was beset with difficulties, resulting in the predicament that the giants now found themselves facing, and which had already been described to the Earthmen. Garuth concluded by stressing again the poor physical and mental