With the exception of an occasional comet or meteor the Rell were seldom diverted by anything of a physical nature. The ice cap was their sole concern.
But one afternoon a rare physical phenomenon was reported by a bank of observer Rell.
“In the sky’s northwest portion,” an excited injunction came through. “Observe that patch of flaming red!”
More observer Rell were quickly focused on the novel sight and further data was rapidly fed into the interpretive bank.
The Rell were justifiably proud of their interpreters. With the race shrinkage it had proved impossible to properly train new interpreters. So, not without a great deal of sacrifice, the old interpreters, dating back to when the canals still flowed with water, had been kept alive.
They were incredibly ancient but there was no doubt as to their ability. It was a truism among the Rell that the interpretive banks arrived at their conclusions faster than any other group and that these conclusions could be checked to hundreds of decimal places without finding inaccuracy.
So it was no surprise to have the interpretive bank respond almost instantly, “It is quite odd but the flame appears to be of artificial origin.”
“Artificial!” came the rough and questing probe of the speculative bank. “But how could Rell possibly be out there?”
[89]
]“Who mentioned Rell?” was the interpretive bank’s smug answer. They were not utterly averse to demonstrating their superior mental abilities on occasion.
The speculative bank replied, “Artificial implies intelligence, and intelligence means Rell …”