"You aren't making sense, gal."
"I am, Cragin. Because Owners or no Owners, the Earth—the entire system and the universe in which it lives—have true physical and chemical values of their own—values determined in the very beginning by an entity far higher than they!"
"You mean you actually believe—"
"I do and I'm proud of it!"
Cragin felt his face grow warm, knew he reddened, was not sure why. He felt a strange compulsion to turn his eyes from hers. Mad? Easily said, of course, but—No.
No. Not mad at all.
"I may understand more than you think, Lin Griffin. I am human."
There was a moment's silence. Then, as though she had not heard him, she spoke rapidly.
"Once returned to the X Ecliptic, Cragin, I shall set the vibrokey adrift within its circumference, to set up a vibration field which will negate any form of other energy, including counter-vibrations, and which will mean complete destruction to any form of matter. I intend to activate the key from the machine-planet itself with nothing more complex than a simple radar beam, after I have restored the solar system to its original values."
"That'll mean everything within the Ecliptic will be destroyed; the machine-planet; you too. You're telling me you don't mean to come back. I can't let—"