After he had finished, Frost raised his eyestalk andregarded Mordel through it.

"Have you more books?"

"Not with me. I occasionally come upon them, however."

"I want to scan them all."

'Then the next time I pass this way I will bring you another."

"When will that be?""That I cannot say, great Frost. It will be when it willbe."

"What do you know of Man?" asked Frost.

"Much," replied Mordel. "Many things. Someday whenI have more time I will speak to you of Him. I must gonow. You will not try to detain me?"

"No. You have done no harm. If you must go now,go. But come back."

"I shall indeed, mighty Frost."

And he closed his turret and rolled off toward the otherhorizon.

For ninety years, Frost considered the ways of humanphysiology and waited.

The day that Mordel returned he brought with himAn Outline of History and A Shropshire Lad.

Frost scanned them both, then-he turned his attentionto Mordel.

"Have you time to impart information?"

"Yes," said Mordel. "What do you wish to know?"

"The nature of Man."

"Man," said Mordel, "possessed a basically incomprehensible nature. I can illustrate it, though: He did notknow measurement."

"Of course He knew measurement," said Frost, "orHe could never have built machines."

"I did not say that He could not measure," said Mordel,"but that 'He did not know measurement, which is adifferent thing altogether."

"Clarify."

Mordel drove a shaft of metal downward into the snow.

He retracted it, raised it, held up a piece of ice.

"Regard this piece of ice, mighty Frost. You can tellme its composition, dimensions, weight, temperature.A Man could not look at it and do that, A Man couldmake tools which would tell Him these things, but Hestill would not know measurement as you know it. WhatHe would know of it, though, is a thing that you cannotknow."

"What is that?"

"That it is cold." said Mordei, and tossed it away.

" 'Cold' is a relative term."

"Yes. Relative to Man."

"But if I were aware of the point on a temperature-scale below which an object is cold to a Man and abovewhich it is not, then I, too, would know cold."

"No," said Mordel, "you would possess another measurement. 'Cold' is a sensation predicated upon humanphysiology."

"But given sufficient data I could obtain the conversionfactor which would make me aware of the condition ofmatter called 'cold'."

"Aware of its existence, but not of the thing itself."

"I do not understand what you say."

"I told you that Man possessed a basically incomprehensible nature. His perceptions were organic; yours arenot. As a result of His perceptions He had feelings andemotions. These often gave rise to other feelings and emotions, which in turn caused others, until the state of Hisawareness was far removed from the objects which originally stimulated it. These paths of awareness cannot beknown by that which is not-Man. Man did not feel inchesor meters, pounds or gallons. He felt heat, He felt cold; Hefelt heaviness and lightness. He knew hatred and love,pride and despair. You cannot measure these things. Youcannot know them. You can only know the things thatHe did not need to know: dimensions, weights, temperatures, gravities. There is no formula for a feeling. Thereis no conversion factor for an emotion."

"There must be," said Frost. "If a thing exists, it isknowable."

"You are speaking again of measurement. I am talkingabout a quality of experience. A machine is a Man turnedinside-out, because it can describe all the details of a process, which a Man cannot, but it cannot experience thatprocess itself as a Man can."

"There must be a way," said Frost, "or the laws oflogic, which are based upon the functions of the universe,are false."

"There is no way," said Mordel.

"Given sufiicent data, I will find a way," said Frost.

"All the data in the universe will not make you a Man,mighty Frost."

"Mordel, you are wrong."

"Why do the lines of the poems you scanned end withword-sounds which so regularly approximate the finalword-sounds of other lines?'*

"I do not know why.""Because it pleased Man to order them so. It produceda certain desirable sensation within His awareness whenHe read them, a sensation compounded of feeling andemotion as well as the literal meanings of the words.You did not experience this because it is immeasurableto you. That is why you do not know,"

"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 cando and what I cannot do? I am the most efficient logicdevice Solcom ever made. I am Frost."

"And I, Mordel, say it cannot be done, though I shouldgladly assist you in the attempt."

"How could you assist me?"

"How? I could lay open to you the Library of Man. Icould take you around the world and conduct you amongthe wonders of Man which still remain, hidden. I couldsummon up visions of times long past when Man walkedthe Earth. I could show you the things which delightedHim. I could obtain for you anything you desire, excepting Manhood itself."

"Enough," said Frost. "How could a unit such as yourself do these things, unless it were allied with a far greaterPower?"

"Then hear me, Frost, Controller of the North," saidMordel. "I am allied with a Power which can do thesethings. I serve Divcom."

Frost relayed this information to Solcom and receivedno response, which meant he might act in any mannerhe saw fit.

"I have leave to destroy you, Mordel," he stated, "butit would be an illogical waste of the data which you possess. Can you really do the things you have stated?"

"Yes."

"Then 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 of Economics, it was called.

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

Frost scanned Principles of Economics."I know now," he said. "You desire some unit orunits of exchange for this service."

"That is correct."

"What product or service do you want?"

"I want you, yourself, great Frost, to come away fromhere, far beneath the Earth, to employ all your powersin the service of Divcom."

"For how long a period of time?"

"For so long as you shall continue to function. For solong as you can transmit and receive, coordinate, men^ure,compute, scan, and utilize your powers as you do in theservice of Solcom."

Frost was silent. Mordel waited.

Then Frost spoke again.

"Principles of Economics talks of contracts, bargains,agreements," he said. "If I accept your offer, when wouldyou 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 for anything you may want which I can giveyou."

"No," said Frost.

"How much time do you want?"

"If 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," he said, "and I, Frost, told you, littlemachine, that you were wrong. I told you that given sufficient data, I could be a Man."

"Yes?"

"Therefore, let this achievement be a condition of thebargain.""In what way?"

"Do for me all those things which you have stated youcan do. I will evaluate all the data and achieve Manhood,or admit that it cannot be done. If I admit that it cannotbe done. then I will go away with you from here, far beneath the Earth, to employ all my powers in the serviceof Divcom. If I succeed, of course, you have no claimson Man, nor power over Him."