"What kind of specifications?" Trigger inquired.
Lyad hadn't learned in detail, but some of the robots appeared to have demonstrated rather alarming possibilities. Those possibilities, however, were precisely what intrigued the hierarchy most.
Mantelish smacked his lips thoughtfully and shook his head. "Not good!" he said. "Not at all good! I'm beginning to think—" He paused a moment. "Go on, Lyad."
The hierarchy was now giving renewed consideration to a curious request the plasmoid had made almost as soon as Balmordan became capable of understanding it. The request had been to find and destroy plasmoid 113-A.
The Ermetyne's amber eyes switched to Trigger. "Shall I?" she asked.
Trigger nodded.
And a specific human being. The Devagas already had established that this human being must be Trigger Argee.
"What?" Mantelish's thick white eyebrows shot up. "113-A we can understand—it is afraid of being in some way brought back under control. But why Trigger?"
"Because," Lyad said carefully, "112 was aware that 113-A intended to condition Trigger into being its interpreter."
Professor Mantelish's jaw dropped. He swung his head toward Trigger. "Is that true?"