– Even so, said Whisperer, it shook him up. I think it shook this Center up. It must be a shock to know there is another Center in the galaxy.
– Do you happen to know asked Tennyson, if we really penetrated this Center without their knowing it – not knowing until we were actually here?
– I am sure we did, said Whisperer.
– Once we got here, though, said Jill, they must have known. They must have all sorts of sensors out, tuned to pick up any kind of life. In any case, the first worm would have reported us.
– That’s what worries me the most, said Tennyson. There is no doubt they took pictures of us – whatever you call the kind of pictures that they take. They must have data on all of us, maybe even Whisperer. By now they may have recreated another Jill and Jason, other equation people, recreated from the data.
– Could they be listening to us now? asked Jill.
– I think not, said Whisperer.
– But there are Dusters here. They know how Dusters operate.
– There are a few here now said Whisperer. At times there are none at all. My people are not a part of Center. They drift in and out. They keep a check on Center, checking back on occasion to learn what has been found, if there’s anything here that they can use. And so far as recreating one of us, I doubt that they could do it. We are, after all, little more than a mass of molecules and atoms.
– You mean the Dusters are using this place?
– Well, yes, you might say they are. There has been no cooperation. My people are scattered very far.
– I put too much faith in this Decker to start with, said Tennyson. I was glad to see him. Like meeting an old friend in an unexpected place. I was blinded by my memory of the first Decker. I may have been too open. I may have said too much. It was too late to unsay it when I began to feel that he was a different man. There was a different texture to him. He was too smooth. The old Decker was never smooth. Decker II lied several times – I am sure he did. He lied about never having heard of Mary until we told him. He lied about his own data lying around for a hundred years before he was recreated. I am convinced the Bubblies would have processed his data immediately. They would have wanted to find out what it was that had come tearing down out of space straight toward them.
– You can understand the differences that are in him, said Jill. He has been subjected for at least a century – more than likely two centuries – to the influences of this place. He has come to identify with it. He accepts its viewpoints and absorbed its philosophy, if it has a philosophy and I assume it must. He seems to have it good, has made a place for himself. He is part – a triad, is it? – with this Bubbly he calls Smoky. He and Haystack. Decker II is not the same man he was. He has changed. He probably had to change to survive. You can’t blame him too much. He did what he had to do. And this is not like the old Decker at all – not like the man you described to me, Jason. Your Decker never conformed, never even tried to conform. He didn’t give a damn. He lived his own life, the way he wanted it, with no notice of what others might be doing.
– You said a triad, said Whisperer. That means three, doesn’t it?
– Yes, it means three.
– There are more than three, said Whisperer. There are four.
– Four?
– There is Plopper.
– Plopper? You mean that thing that was jumping all around?
– That is the one I mean. He is part of Haystack and Decker and the Bubbly.
– Well, I’ll be damned, said Tennyson. How do you know this?
– I know. I know not how. But the Bubbly and the Plopper are very closely related.
– Let’s try to sum it up, said Tennyson. We are here. We found this place and it is not Heaven. We should be getting back to Vatican with the word it isn’t Heaven. But how can we prove it isn’t Heaven? We can’t just say it isn’t. No one would believe us. And we haven’t much time to hunt around for proof.
– We should be leaving now, said Jill. Whisperer, could you take us home?
– I can take you home.
– How about the equation folk?
– No need to worry about them. They can find their way back. If they want to go.
– You think they may not want to go? Oh, yes, I see what you mean. They were put away in an old folks’ home and now they’ve broken free of it…
– So we have only ourselves to think of, said Tennyson. What worries me is how much time we may have to try to pick up proof and how much danger we may be in by waiting. Once the Bubblies recreate the new Jill and the new me, they might just put an end to us. They could use the new ones of us to try to weasel their way into Vatican.
– Why do we feel this way? asked Jill. Here we are assigning the Bubblies an adversary role. Maybe it won’t turn out that way at all. This Center and Vatican are engaged in the same activity. They might want to be cooperative. They might want to join in with Vatican…
– Which is the last thing Vatican would want.
– I can’t help it, said Jill. I think the same way you do – that the chance is they are adversaries. But we can’t be sure of that.
– For one thing, said Tennyson, Decker showed far too much interest in the Listeners. He asked a lot of questions. In their data-gathering capability, Vatican is light-years ahead of this place. This gang would dearly love to get their hands on the Listeners.
– But they must have known about Vatican long before we came here. Remember the Theodosius memo. A survey party of the Bubblies did visit Vatican.
– Yes I know, I have been wondering about that. Also what Decker said about the data piling up. A Bubbly survey sweep might take centuries, might cover a lot of planets. They’d come back with tons of data. They’d be forced to pick and choose. They’d study only what seemed the most important. Maybe the Vatican data is still in the files untouched. Vatican’s not too spectacular. It might not have made much of an impression. Perhaps the Bubblies never had run across robots before, would not even guess at their capabilities. So far as we know, the human made robots are the only ones in the galaxy. To the Bubblies, a robot might seem to be nothing but a lump, a chunk of metal, a machine. They stayed only a few minutes, not much more than a fly-over. Remember what that memo written by Theodosius said – that the one he saw clearly looked down upon him with enormous disdain.
– Theodosius couldn’t be sure of that. It was only his impression.
– I’m not certain of that. A robot cardinal can be pretty damn discerning.
– Well maybe so, said Jill. I hope you’re right.
– Do you now, asked Whisperer, wish to go back home? I am ready to transport you there. I’d not mind going back myself.
– We can’t, said Tennyson. We simply must have proof. Otherwise, all this will have been for nothing. What we must have is some sort of iron-clad proof.
– You endanger yourselves, warned Whisperer. I know of danger in this place.
– I wish we could pin down, said Tennyson, some idea of what this place is all about. Decker called it a study center, and I’m inclined to believe it is. But the motive is the thing. Most research centers – human research centers, that is – are aimed at knowledge for the sake of knowledge alone. In Vatican, the acquisition of knowledge is aimed at the acquisition of a faith, in the belief that faith will come through knowledge. Another motive might be power, using knowledge as a power base. I fear that this may be the motive here. Decker spoke of a move to extend this Center’s research to nearby galaxies. Could this be a reaching out for power – for power rather than knowledge?
– It could be, said Jill, but the exercise of power must presuppose a political organization. Does this place operate politically?
– There’s no way we can know, said Tennyson. We haven’t the time to find out.