Her eyes were wide, bright sapphires. “But why? Why would he do such a thing, for goodness’ sake?”
“I don’t know why it was done,” Mike said slowly, “but I doubt if it was for goodness’ sake. We haven’t gotten to the bottom of this hanky-panky yet, I don’t think.
“Leda, if I’m right—if this is what has been causing Snookums’ odd behavior—can you cure him?”
She looked at the book again and nodded. “I think so. But it will take a lot of work. I’ll have to talk to Fitz about it. We’ll have to keep this book—and the other two.”
Mike shook his head. “No can do. Can you photocopy them?”
“Certainly. But it’ll take—oh, two or three hours per book.”
“Then you’d better get busy. We’re landing in the morning.”
She nodded. “I know. Captain Quill has already told us.”
“Fine, then.” He stood up. “What will you do? Simply tell Snookums to forget all this stuff?”
“Good Heavens no! It’s too thoroughly integrated with every other bit of data he has! You might be able to take one single bit of data out that way, but to jerk out a whole body of knowledge like this would completely randomize his circuits. You can pull out a tooth by yanking with a pair of forceps, but if you try to take out a man’s appendix that way, you’ll lose a patient.”