The spaceship fired its atomic drive. Starbuck tried to lift a tranquil to his lips. He didn't make it. Painfully, he found out why a man would prefer to go through a spaceship takeoff in a tranquilized condition. * * * * * "Come," the captain said. Starbuck palmed back the door to the captain's cabin and stepped inside. Captain Birdsel stood in front of the small wall mirror tattooing a flying dragon on his bared chest. "Yes? What is it, Ben?" "Sir, you remember that the ship's brain directed me to return at this time today. But I understand I'll have to have your permission to go onto that part of the bridge." "The brain's directive was quite enough, my boy." He laid down the needle. "But I'll accompany you there if you like." "Just as you wish, sir." Birdsel smiled engagingly. "Noticed the dragon, did you?" "It arrested my attention, yes, sir," Starbuck admitted. "The hours are long and lonely in the vaults of space, Ben. A man needs a variety of interests to occupy himself. I have recently taken up the ancient art of tattooing." "Surely not recently, sir. You seem quite advanced." "You're too kind." The captain escorted Starbuck to the chamber of the brain, discussing tattooing animatedly. He told how it was popular with ancient mariners on the seas of Earth. He discussed the artistic significance of the basic forms--the Heart and Arrow, the Nude, the Flag. He didn't stop talking and button his shirt even after they entered the cybernetics room. As the captain grasped for his second wind, Starbuck turned to the machine. "I'm here, Calculator." The lights patterned words with a speed difficult to follow. REDUNDANCY. CANCEL. ANALYSIS: SOCIAL MORE. I SEE THAT YOU ARE HERE. IT IS GOOD THAT YOU ARE NOT THERE OR ELSEWHERE, BUT THAT HERE YOU ARE. HERE ARE YOU. Starbuck shifted his weight to the other foot. "Yes, I'm sure here all right." WHAT DID YOU DO WHILE YOU WERE NOT HERE? "I helped lay some walk mats in the corridors. I policed up the latrine. Lost all the money I brought with me in a crap game. Craps, that's where--" HOYLE'S RULES OF GAMES IS A PART OF MY PROGRAMMING. "I see." YOU ARE NOT BLIND. IT IS WELL THAT YOU HAVE VISION. HOW'S THE WEATHER? "Still under Central's control, I suppose." WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT TATTOOING? * * * * * "Only what Captain Birdsel here told me," Starbuck said. No doubt there was a pattern of fine logic to the calculator's inquiries, but he was too dense to see it. The question sounded to him like the mumblings of a mongoloid. "I'd be delighted to fill the brain in on the subject," Birdsel said. The calculator's communication screen remained blank. "Was there anything else you wanted to know?" Starbuck inquired. YOU WILL PROCESS THE _GORGON_ THROUGH PHASING, SWABBER STARBUCK. "The hyperspace jump? But that's the captain's job," he protested.