"That's good enough for me!"
"Jack," said Farnum urgently, "let's get out of here. I want to talk to you."
"In a minute, in a minute," said Bates impatiently. "I've got one more question." He turned to face the wall from which the disembodied voice appeared to emanate. "Is it possible to arrange it so that you would answer only one man's questions—mine, for example?"
"I can tell you how to arrange it so that I will respond to only your questions—for so long as you are alive."
"Come on," pleaded Farnum. "I've got to talk to you right now."
"Okay," said Bates, smiling. "Let's go."
When they were back in their ship, Farnum turned desperately to Bates. "Can't you see what a deadly danger that machine is to us all? We've got to warn Earth as fast as we can and get them to quarantine this planet—and any other planets we find that have Oracles."
"Oh, no, you don't," said Bates. "You aren't getting the chance to have the Oracle all to yourself. With that machine, we can rule the whole galaxy. We'll be the most powerful people who ever lived! It's sure lucky for us that you won the toss of the coin and we stopped here."
"But don't you see that the Oracle will destroy Earth?"