One of the guards pressed a stud at his wrist. Around the globe the
air shimmered and faded.
"Now." Sherikov's hand closed over the globe. He lifted it carefully
from its mount and brought it out for Cole to see. "This is the
control turret for our enormous friend here. This is what will slow
him down when he's inside Centaurus. He slows down and re-enters this
universe. Right in the heart of the star. Then--no more Centaurus."
Sherikov beamed. "And no more Armun."
But Cole was not listening. He had taken the globe from Sherikov and
was turning it over and over, running his hands over it, his face
close to its surface. He peered down into its interior, his face rapt
and intent.
"You can't see the wiring. Not without lenses." Sherikov signalled for
a pair of micro-lenses to be brought. He fitted them on Cole's nose,
hooking them behind his ears. "Now try it. You can control the
magnification. It's set for 1000X right now. You can increase or
decrease it."
Cole gasped, swaying back and forth. Sherikov caught hold of him. Cole
gazed down into the globe, moving his head slightly, focussing the
glasses.
"It takes practice. But you can do a lot with them. Permits you to do
microscopic wiring. There are tools to go along, you understand."
Sherikov paused, licking his lip. "We can't get it done correctly.
Only a few men can wire circuits using the micro-lenses and the little
tools. We've tried robots, but there are too many decisions to be
made. Robots can't make decisions. They just react."
Cole said nothing. He continued to gaze into the interior of the
globe, his lips tight, his body taut and rigid. It made Sherikov feel
strangely uneasy.
"You look like one of those old fortune tellers," Sherikov said
jokingly, but a cold shiver crawled up his spine. "Better hand it back
to me." He held out his hand.
Slowly, Cole returned the globe. After a time he removed the
micro-lenses, still deep in thought.
"Well?" Sherikov demanded. "You know what I want. I want you to wire
this damn thing up." Sherikov came close to Cole, his big face hard.
"You can do it, I think. I could tell by the way you held it--and the
job you did on the children's toy, of course. You could wire it up
right, and in five days. Nobody else can. And if it's not wired up
Centaurus will keep on running the galaxy and Terra will have to sweat
it out here in the Sol system. One tiny mediocre sun, one dust mote
out of a whole galaxy."
Cole did not answer.