"But I am not Sandrake, who would think nothing of expending the entire power-availability of a whole city just to talk."
"Sandra is pretty much a human being in spite of her faults," said Hammond. "I'm certain that any of us would have done it, just in the same manner. In fact, I'm not too certain that Drake is inclined to be a little inefficient, not knowing too much about the finer points of operation. I'd probably divert the power output of the whole planet just to be sure I was heard."
"Does nothing stop Terrans?"
"Not for long," laughed Hammond. "And here's Thani. And the operator won't be asking for another thirty thousand dollars after the first three minutes, because there's no operator."
"I fear," started Thuni, and then ceased her worry. She finished: "I'll hold this open until Theodi comes, at least."
"Good. That's learning to use the gifts of the universe to your own comfort and pleasure. See you later, Thuni." To Thani, standing at his side, he said: "Here's your sister. She needs cheering up."
Thani flashed him a smile that might have been enticing in a Terran woman, and then turned to talk to her sister.
"Meanwhile," said McBride, "I've a thought. Not a good one, but a couple of dark ones. We know that silicon is a tough character. It doesn't take to planetary changes with the ease of xenon, for instance. It is way high up on the electronic-stability table."
"That's correct," said Hammond. "But we've been thinking in terms of not trying to add the silicon, but to combine the sulphur to the rest of the compound containing the silicon already."