"I invite Ertene to join the Solar System."
"Your invitation is appreciated. Please understand that the acceptance of such an invitation will change Ertene's social structure forever, and that it is not to be taken lightly."
"I realize that the invitation is not one to accept lightly. It is a large decision."
"Then what has Sol to offer?"
"A stable existence. The commerce of an entire system and the friendship of another world of similar type in almost every respect. The opportunity to partake in a veritable twinship between Ertene and Sol, with all the ramifications that such a brotherhood would offer."
"Ertene's existence is stable, Guy. Let us consider that point first."
"How can any wandering program be considered stable?"
"We are born, we live, and we die. Whether we are fated to spend our lives on a nomad planet or ultimately become the very center of the universe about which everything revolves, making Ertene the most stable planet of them all, Ertinians will continue living. When nomadism includes the entire resources of a planet, it can not be instable."
"Granted. But do you hope to go on forever?"
"How old is your history, Guy?"