,” was the answer.
“Where is the moisture coming from?” the interpretive bank was asked.
The answer didn’t take long. Rapid measurements supplied it. “Some of it is vaporized frost but that wouldn’t be enough for our [95] ]needs. The only other possibility is that moisture must be seeping away from either the man or his ship despite his sureness that they were both airtight and our own investigations which confirmed it.”
They had maintained a cautious distance from the ship for the most part despite the interpretive bank’s assurance of no immediate danger. But now they swarmed over both it and the spacesuit determined to detect the leak.
They found none.
And now the man was returning to his ship.
“This is the last time
,” the mesh warned. It was now or never.
For a second there was conflict over control of the circuits to the disciplinary corps which carried with it command of the organism during the emergency. The speculative bank customarily assumed this responsibility, but a slight schism had developed between it and the interpretive bank. The latter’s greater age and skill came into play and victory was quickly won.
From the disciplinary corps came the order, “Stay close to the ‘man’.”