"Can't we do it in some other way?" "Not in time with the facilities we have. Maybe Nona could but the rest of us are just humans." "Well, what's wrong with her?" "Nothing. If you can get her interested in building a control unit I'll step aside." "Why build it? She _is_ the control." "Now she is, but there are a number of reasons why a mechanical control is better. For one thing we don't know how much of her attention it requires. The drive may not function at all when she isn't consciously thinking about it." "But the gravity never stops." "True, but does it apply to acceleration? We can't measure that." "You're working on a lot of suppositions--it may do this--it may not do that." "We don't have to guess at one thing, Anti. The expedition is gaining on us. And _they_ are using a mechanical control." Anti looked over at the drawing Docchi had made. A bunch of squiggles. "You know more about it than I do. If it's your opinion that this is what we should have, then we ought to. To me it seems that another kind of control won't make much difference." "Review what we have. A nuclear pile that supplies all the power, a set of gravity coils, and three computers. One computer figures the gravity for the asteroid. Another calculates the propulsive force. The third, we think, actuates the scanner. Nona may rotate the duties among the computers and the unit we're building will do the same. "But this is what we can do that Nona doesn't: we'll cut everything to a minimum except the drive. Gravity, light, heat, all the personal conveniences will be cut to the least we can stand." Anti rose a few inches and thought herself back to the floor. "This is what you'll do if it works the way you imagine." "It will, Anti." Docchi's face was set. "Nona's too considerate. As long as she has it she won't impose the sacrifices we're glad to make ourselves. We're taking it out of her hands." If they needed somebody to make hard decisions, Docchi was the man. It was a crusade with him and he was willing to drive everyone the same as himself. Anti looked at his face and decided against the question she'd come to ask. "Sounds grim, but you're right. We're willing if there's a chance we'll get there first. What can I do to help?" "Reorganize the library. Get assistants to reach in the places too small for you. Collect the medical texts first. Cameron may need them." "A thankless job," muttered Anti. "I started out to _read_ a book." Docchi smiled. "I thought you had enough of sedentary life." "I have, but not enough of books. Picture and music tapes were easy to get in the tank but they didn't make acid proof books. Limited demand, I suppose." "Here's the formula I've worked out. Books are selected according to subject and author, filed according to size and date received." He went over the procedure until she had it straight. "I guess I can do it," she said dubiously. "But why not start at one end and go through to the other side of the stacks?"