you. I didn't know McGuire was going to go crazy."

"He's not crazy, Jack," I said carefully. "This time, he has a good
chance of remaining sane."

"But he's not McGuire any more!" she wailed. "He's different!
Terrible!"

"Sure he's different. You should be thankful."

"But what happened?"

I leaned back on the couch. "Listen to me, Jack, and listen carefully.
You think you're pretty grown up, and, in a lot of ways you are. But
no human being, no matter how intelligent, can store enough experience
into seventeen years to make him or her wise. A wise choice requires
data, and gathering enough data requires time." That wasn't exactly
accurate, but I had to convince her.

"You're pretty good at controlling people, aren't you, Jack. A real
powerhouse. Individuals, or mobs, you can usually get your own way. It
was your idea to send you to Luna, not your father's. It was your idea
to appoint yourself my assistant in this operation. It was you who
planted the idea that the failure of the McGuire series was due to
Thurston's activities.

"You used to get quite a kick out of controlling people. And then you
were introduced to McGuire One. I got all the information on that. You
were fifteen, and, for the first time in your life, you found an
intelligent mind that couldn't be affected at all by that emotional
field you project so well. Nothing affected McGuire but data. If you
told him something, he believed it. Right, McGuire?"

"I do not recall that, sir."

"Fine. And, by the way, McGuire--the data you have been picking up in
the last few hours, since your activation, is to be regarded as
unique data. It applies only to Jaqueline Ravenhurst, and is not to be
assumed relevant to any other person unless I tell you otherwise."

"Yes, sir."

"That's what I don't understand!" Jack said unhappily. "I stole the
two keys that were supposed to activate McGuire. He was supposed to
obey the first person who activated him. But _I_ activated him, and he
won't obey!"

"You weren't listening to what Midguard said, Jack," I said gently.
"He said: 'The first _man's_ voice he hears will be identified as his
master.'"

"You'd been talking to every activation of McGuire. You'd ... well, I
won't say you'd fallen in love with him, but it was certainly a
schoolgirl crush. You found that McGuire didn't respond to emotion,
but only to data and logic.

"You've always felt rather inferior in regard to your ability to
handle logic, have