Dairine sat astonished.
'What do the equations indicate as the estimated life of this universe at present?' said Monitor.
'Two point six times ten to the sixtieth milliseconds.'
'Well,' Logo said, 'using an isothermal reversible transition, and releasing entropy-freeze for a thousand milliseconds every virtual ten-to-the-twelfth milliseconds or so, we could extend that to nearly a hundred thousand times its length. . until we find some way to do without entropy altogether. . '
They're talking about shutting the universe down for a thousand years at a time and letting it have a second's growth every now and then in between! 'Listen,' Dairine said, 'has it occurred to you that maybe I don't want to be in an envelope? I like being the way I am!'
Now it was their turn to look at her astonished.
'And so do all the other kinds of slowlife!' she said. 'That's the real reason you can't do it. They have a right to live their own way, just as you do!'
'We are living our own way,' said Logo.
'Not if you interfere with all the rest of the life in the universe, you're not! That's not the way I built you.'
Dairine grasped at a straw. 'You all had that Oath first, just the same as I did. To preserve life. .' '
'The one who took that Oath for us,' said Logo, 'did not understand it: and we weren't separately conscious then. It wasn't our choice. It isn't binding on us.'
Dairine went cold.
'Yes, it is,' Gigo said unexpectedly, from beside her. 'That consciousness is still part of us. / hold by it.'
'That's my boy,' Dairine said under her breath.
'Why should we not interfere?' Logo said. 'You interfered with us.'
There was a rustle of agreement among some of the mobiles. 'Not the same way,' Dairine said. . and again it sounded lame. Usually Dairine got her way in an argument by fast talk and getting people emotionally mixed up… but that was not going to work with this lot, especially since they knew her from the inside out. 'I found the life in you, and let it out.'
'So we will for the other fastlife,' said Logo. 'The 'dumb machines' that your data showed us. We will set them free of the slowlife that enslaves them. We will even set the slowlife free eventually, since it would please you. Meantime, we will 'preserve' the slowlife, as you say. We will hold it all in stasis until we find a way to free them from entropy. . and let them out when the universe is ready.'
When we are ready, Dairine knew what Logo meant, and she had a distressing feeling that would be never.
'It's all for your people's own sake,' said Logo.
'It's not,' said Gigo. 'Dairine says not, and I say not. Her kind of life is life too. We should listen to the one who freed us, who knows the magic and has been here longest, is wisest of any of us! We should do what she says!'
A soft current of agreement went through others of the many who stood around. By now, every mobile made since she had come here was gathered there, and they all looked at Dairine and Gigo and Logo, and waited.
'This will be an interesting argument,' Logo said softly.
Dairine broke out in a sudden cold sweat that had nothing to do with the temperature. 'Listen,' she said to the Apple, 'how long have I been on this planet now?'
'Thirty-six hours,' it said.
She turned slowly to look at Logo. It said nothing. It did not need to: no words could have heightened Dairine's terror. She had been expecting frightful power, a form dark and awful, thunder and black lightning. Here, blind, small, seemingly harmless, the mobile stood calmly under her gaze. And Dairine shook, realizing that her spell had worked. She had had a day and a half to find a weapon-time that was now all gone. She had found the weapon-but she had given it a mind of its own, and made it, or them, useless for her defense. She now had a chance to do something important, something that mattered-mattered more than anything-and had no idea how.
'A very interesting argument,' said the Lone Power, through Logo's soft voice. 'And depending on whether you win it or not, you will either die of it, or be worse than dead. Most amusing.'
Dairine was frozen, her heart thundering. But she made herself relax, and sit up straight; rested her elbows casually on her knees, and looked down her nose at the small rounded shape from which the starlight glinted. 'Yeah,' she said, 'well, you're a barrel of laughs, too, so we're even. If we're going to decide the fate of the known universe, let's get started. I haven't got all day.'
Save and Exit
Far out in the darkness, a voice spoke:
'I don't think I can handle another one like that.'
'Just one more.'
'Neets, what are your insides made of? Cast iron? I don't wanna be the only one barfing here.'
'Come on, Kit. It won't be long now.'
'Great. We'll get wherever we're going, and I'll walk up to the Lone One and decorate It with my lunch.
Not that there's any left.' A moan. 'I hope It does kill me. It'd, be better than throwing up again!'
'I thought you knew better than to talk like that. . and you a wizard. Don't ask for things unless you want them to happen.'
'Bird, go stuff yourself. Why did I eat that thing at the Crossings!'
'That'll teach you not to eat anything you can't positively identify.'
'Peach, it was that, or you. Shut up or you're next on the menu. If I ever eat again.'
'Peach, get off his case. Kit, you ready for it? We can't waste time.'
A pause. 'Yeah. You got your gizmo ready?'
'I don't want to use it on this jump. I have a feeling we're gonna need it for something else.'
'You sure we can pull the transit off ourselves, with just the words of the spell and no extra equipment?
A trillion-mile jump's a bit much even for a Senior's vocabulary.'
'I think we can. I've got a set of coordinates to shoot for this time, rather than just a set of loci of displacement. Look.'
A pause. 'Neets, you shouldn't even write that name. Let alone say it out loud. You'll attract Its attention.'
'Something else has Its attention. Dairine's trace is getting too weak to follow: she's been on the road too long. But that trace can't help but be clear.
It has to be physical to interact with her, and when It's physical somewhere, Its power elsewhere is limited.'
A sigh. 'Well, you're the live-stuff specialist, Neets. Let's go for it, boss.' 'Huh. I just wish I knew what to do about Dairine when we find her.' 'Spank her?'
'Don't tempt me.' A long pause. 'I hope she's alive to spank.' 'Dairine?' A skeptical laugh. 'If It hasn't killed her by this point, she's winning.'
Dairine sat on the glassy ground, frowning at Logo in the dim starlight. Her heart was pounding and she felt short of breath, but the initial shock had passed. I might not have a lightsaber, she thought, but I'm gonna give this sucker a run for Its money. 'Go on,' she said. 'Take your best shot.'
'We don't understand,' said Monitor. 'What is 'a barrel of laughs'? What is a 'best shot'?'
'And which of us were you speaking to?' Gigo said. 'No one said anything to which that was a logical response.'
She looked at them in uncomfortable surprise. 'I was talking to Logo. Right after the computer told me how
