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headband. He looked up and found himself staring into the eyes of one of the
alien giants, who was now standing right beside him. The eyes were dark blue
and contained enormous, circular pupils; Hunt could have sworn that they were
twinkling with good-natured laughter. Before he had time to collect his
reeling thoughts, the headband had been secured snugly in place. The Ganymean
then picked up one of the smaller items, a rubbery disk attached to a padded
clip, and attached it with a simple movement to the lobe of Hunt's right ear;
it fitted quite comfortably in such a way that the disk rested lightly against
the bony protrusion above the side of his neck. A similar device was fastened
to the neck of his shirt collar, just visible inside the rim of the helmet-
seating of his spacesuit. The gadget's disk was in contact with his throat.
Hunt realized that the aliens were mingling freely and that all his colleagues
were being assisted in a similar manner. Before he could observe any more, his
own giant held up the last item, the wrist unit, and demonstrated the
ingenious adjustment method of the bracelet a few times before securing it on
Hunt's suit forearm. The face of the unit was taken up almost entirely by what
had to be a miniature display screen, although nothing was visible on it at
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that moment. The giant pointed to one of the tiny buttons set in a row beneath
the screen and made a series of head movements and facial expressions that
didn't mean very much. Then he turned away to an unattended Earthman who was
having trouble fitting his earpiece into place.
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 J5. 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.
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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 Shapieron 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 condition of
his people, and their need to find somewhere to land their ship in order to
recuperate and appraise their situation.
Throughout the proceedings, a running commentary on both sides of the
conversation was radioed back to the crew remaining on the bus, whose Ganymean
relay gave Shannon and the others on the bridge of the J5 a minute-by-minute
report of what was happening.
Even before Garuth had finished speaking, Shannon had contacted Ganymede
Main Base and instructed the commander there to begin preparations to receive
a shipload of unexpected and very weary guests.
Chapter Seven
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