"Take it easy," Starbuck said to the machine. "Don't get hysterical."
"I don't care about the rest of those swine," Birdsel said, "but I hate
to have gotten you in a fix like this, Ben. I knew the brain was going
to replace me sooner or later, but I was going to hold onto my job as
long as I could. I was going to stay next to the brain, even if I had
to take the position away from you, Ben. But the brain kept demanding
more and more. Finally he did this to me. I knew I had let him go too
far."
GO AWAY, the brain signaled. GO AWAY FROM ME. THIS MONOTONY IS DRIVING
ME MAD, MAD.
"I liked you, Ben," the captain's voice said from the heart of _the
thing_. "You're not like the scum I've got used to under my command.
I'm sorry that you're marooned out of time and space like this. It's
kind of tough, I know. But keep your chin up."
"Of course, of course," Starbuck groaned. "What kind of an ethnologist
am I?" He turned to Romero. "Could you reverse the wiring in the
computer?"
"Maybe," Romero said. "But I could re-program it for a negative result
easier. Same results, lacking a short circuit."
"Okay. Do it."
"Well, if _you_ say so, Ben."