The little man stood in front of themonstrous machine as the synapticdrone heightened to a scream. No ...no, he whispered. Don't youunderstand....
ld be resolved into neo-Euclidian equations!"
"Why?" Arnold was suddenly irritable. "It's been done a thousand times before!"
"Of course," shrugged Beardsley. "And it's really up to ECAIAC, isn't it? A Prime can be negated, while on the other hand a variant can shift from possible to Logical to Prime. Or am I wrong? I've never been up on the mechanics."
Arnold grunted. "There's bound to be some correlatory shift! The Primes--how many did you say?"
"Three as of now."
Arnold rose abruptly, then strode to the alco-mech and dialled himself another drink. He took an uncommonly long time about it. "Look," he said, "we both know about these things! In a case like this there are bound to be political repercussions--" He hit Beardsley with a gauging glance. "Well," he blurted, "I have to admit I'm damn curious! Mind telling me who are the three Primes? Ah--strictly off the record, you understand."
Beardsley had expected something like this, and he was quite ready to answer; bu
