The screen stayed a stubborn neutral gray.
"Stay, sir."
"All right," Birdsel said dubiously.
The overdrive switchbox had been incorporated into the cybernetics
system itself as an interlock.
"There isn't much to do," Captain Birdsel explained. "We trigger
the jump and come out at a mathematically selected random spot in
real-space after phasing through hyperspace. The Brain scans the sun
systems in the area for unique planets worthy of exploration. If there
is one, we zero in on it via fixed phase until the gravitational field
makes it necessary to switch back to standard interplanetary or nuclear
drive. We can make suggestions to the Brain or theoretically override
one of its decisions. Actually, all we have to do is watch. Thumb the
button, Ben. It wants _you_ to do it. It _likes_ you."
"Aye, captain." Starbuck could believe a cybernetic machine could like
him. Everybody else on board seemed to, and it unnerved him more than
a little. Only a selected few had ever particularly liked Benjamin
Starbuck before. The situation reminded him a bit of Melville's
_Billy Budd_; only he wasn't a "handsome sailor," just a fairly
average-looking spaceman.
Starbuck depressed the button.
The button depressed Starbuck.
* * * * *
Now he knew why tranquils were popular during phasing.
For one instant, Starbuck stopped believing in everything--the
spaceship, the captain, Earth, his own identity, the universe. He went
completely insane, a cockeyed psychotic. It was over just quick enough
to leave him a mind to remember what not having one was like.
"My," the captain said, his head on an angle. He looked as if he were
gazing at some classic piece of art, such as a calendar by Marilyn
Monroe, the last of the great realists whose work was indistinguishable
from color photography.
"That _is_ a dandy," Birdsel said.
Starbuck swiveled his head around to the outer projection portal.
There in all its glory was a star system.
There seemed to be four stars all orbiting each other--two red dwarfs,
one yellow midget and a white giant. One planet was clearly visible on
the side of the system towards the ship, an odd lopsided dumbbell shape
in the center of a translucent sphere of tiny satellites--cosmic dust,
like the rings of Saturn. Strangest of all, the outer shell of the
planet was sending in Interplanetary Morse: CQ, CQ, CQ....
"It," Starbuck ventured with a new-found sophistication, "seems rather
unusual. I suppose we'll take a closer look, Captain?"
The calculator's screen replied for the officer. THE SYSTEM IS
OF INSUFFICIENT INTEREST TO WARRANT EXPLORATION. WE ARE SEEKING
SIGNIFICANTLY UNIQUE PLANETS.
"I have never seen anything like this before...." Birdsel drew himself
up to his full height. "However, the machine's knowledge of the history
of space exploration is much more extensive than mine."
"You aren't going to suggest that the brain reconsider or override its
decision?"
"Certainly not!" Birdsel snapped. "We'll re-phase after the traditional
twenty-four hour delay for psychological adjustment."
Starbuck sneaked another popeyed look at the planet on the screen. "If
he thinks that's run of the mill, Captain, I wonder what he will have
to find to make him think it's unusual?"