"Given sufficient data I could formulate a process whereby I would know."

"No, great Frost, this thing you cannot do."

"Who are you, little machine, to tell me what I can do and what Icannot do? I am the most efficient logic-device Solcom ever made. I amFrost."

"And I, Mordel, say it cannot be done, though I should gladly assistyou in the attempt".

"How could you assist me?"

"How? I could lay open to you the Library of Man. I could take youaround the world and conduct you among the wonders of Man which stillremain, hidden. I could summon up visions of times long past when Manwalked the Earth. I could show you the things which delighted Him. Icould obtain for you anything you desire, excepting Manhood itself."

"Enough," said Frost. "How could a unit such as yourself do thesethings, unless it were allied with a far greater Power?"

"Then hear me, Frost, Controller of the North," said Mordel. "I _am_allied with a Power which can do these things. I serve Divcom."

Frost relayed this information to Solcom and received no response,which meant he might act in any manner he saw fit.

"I have leave to destroy you, Mordel," he stated, "but it would be anillogical waste of the data which you possess. Can you really do thethings you have stated?"

"Yes."

"The lay open to me the Library of Man."

"Very well. There is, of course, a price."

"'Price'? What is a 'price'?"

Mordel opened his turret, revealing another volume. _Principles ofEconomics_, it was called.

"I will riffle the pages. Scan this book and you will know what theword 'price' means."

Frost scanned _Principles of Economics_.

"I know now," he said. "You desie some unit or units of exchange forthis service."

"That is correct."

"What product or service do you want?"

"I want you, yourself, great Frost, to come away from here, far beneaththe Earth, to employ all your powers in the service of Divcom."

"For how long a period of time?"

"For so long as you shall continue to function. For so long as you cantransmit and receive, coodinate, measure, compute, scan, and utilize yourpowers as you do in the service of Solcom."

Frost was silent. Mordel waited.

Then Frost spoke again.

"_Principles of Economics_ talks of contracts, bargains, agerements,"he said. "If I accept your offer, when would you want your price?"

Then Mordel was silent. Frost waited.

Finally, Mordel spoke.

"A reasonable period of time," he said. "Say, a century?"

"No," said Frost.

"Two centuries?"

"No."

"Three? Four?"

"No, and no."

"A millenium, then? That should be more than sufficient time foranything you may want which I can give you."

"No," said Frost.

"How much time _do_ you want?"

"It is not a matter of time," said Frost.

"What, then?"

"I will not bargain on a temporal basis."

"On what basis will you bargain?"

"A functional one."

"What do you mean? What function?"

"You, little machine, have told me, Frost, that I cannot be a Man," hesaid, "and I, Frost, told you, little machine, that you were wrong. Itold you that given sufficient data, I _could_ be a Man."

"Yes?"

"Therefore, let this achievement be a condition of the bargain."

"In what way?"

"Do for me all those things which you have stated you can do. I willevaluate all the data and achieve Manhood, or admit that it cannot bedone. If I admit that it cannot be done, then I will go away with youfrom here, far beneath the Earth, to employ all my powers in the serviceof Divcom. If I succeed, of course, you have no claims on Man, nor powerover Him."

Mordel emitted a high-pitched whine as he considered the terms.

"You wish to base it upon you admission of failure, rather than uponfailure itself," he said. "There can be no such escape clause. Youcould fail and efuse to admit it, thereby not fulfilling your end of thebargain."

"Not so," stated Frost. "My own knowledge of failure would constitutesuch an admission. You may monito me perioically - say, everyhalf-century - to see whether it is present, to see whether I havearrived at the conclusion that it cannot be done. I cannot prevent thefunction of logic within me, and I operate at full capacity at alltimes. If I conclude that I have failed, it will be apparent."

High overhead, Solcom did not respond to any of Frost's transmissions,which meant that Frost was free to act as he chose. So as Solcom - likea falling sapphire - sped above the rainbow banners of the NorthernLights, over the snow that was white, containing all colors, and throughthe sky that was black among the stars, Frost concluded his pact withDivcom, transcribed it within a plate of atomically-collapsed copper, andgave it into the turret of Mordel, who departed to deliver it to Divcomfar below the Earth, leaving behind the sheer, peace-like silence of thePole, rolling.

Mordel brought the books, riffled them, took them back.

Load by loa, the surviving Libray of Man passed beneath Frost'sscanner. Frost was eager to have them all, and he complained becauseDivcom would not transmit their contents directly to him. Mordelexplained that it was because Divcom chose to do it that way. Frostdecided it was so that he could not obtain a precise fix on Divcom'slocation.

Still, at the rate of one hundred to one hundred-fifty volumes a week,it took Frost only a little over a century to exhaust Divcom's supply ofbooks.

At the end of the half-century, he laid himself open to monitoring andtheir was no conclusion of failure.

During this time, Solcom made no comment upon the course of affairs.Frost decied this was not a matter of unawareness, but one of waiting.For what? He was not certain.

There was the day Mordel closed his turret and said to him, "Those werethe last. You have scanned all the existing books of Man."

"So few?" asked Frost. "Many of them contained bibliographies of booksI have not yet scanned."

"Then those books no longer exist," said Mordel. "It is only byaccident that my master succeeded in preserving as many as there are."

"Then there is nothing more to be learned of Man from His books. Whatelse have you?"

"There were some films and tapes," said Mordel, "which my mastertransferred to solid-state record. I could bring you those for viewing."

"Bring them," said Frost.

Mordel departed and returned with the Complete Drama Critics' LivingLibrary. This could not be speeded-up beyond twice natural time, so ittook Frost a little over six months to view it in its entirety.

Then, "What else have you?" he asked.

"Some artifacts," said Mordel.

"Bring them."

He returned with pots and pans, gameboards and hand tools. He broughthairbrushes, combs, eyeglasses, human clothing. He showed Frostfacsimiles of blueprints, paintings, newspapers, magazines, letters, andthe scores of several pieces of music. He displayed a football, abaseball, a Browning automatic rifle, a doorknob, a chain of keys, thetops to several Mason jars, a model beehive. He played him the recordedmusic.

Then he returned with nothing.

"Bring me more," said Frost.

"Alas, great Frost, there is no more," he told him. "You have scannedit all."

"Then go away."

"Do you admit now that it cannot be done, that you cannot be a Man?"

"No. I have much processing and formulating to do now. Go away."

So he did.

A year passed; then two, then three.

After five years, Mordel appeared once more upon the horizon,approached, came to a halt before Frost's southern surface.

"Mighty Frost?"

"Yes?"

"Have you finished processing and formulating?"

"No."

"Will you finish soon?"