to do the job? Enough
oompa, but not too much?"

"Since we, too, are on strange ground the probability is vanishingly
small. We have been making inquiries, however, and scanning. You were
selected from all the minds of Terra as the one having the widest
vision, the greatest scope, the most comprehensive grasp. The ablest at
synthesis and correlation and so on."

"That's printing it in big letters, but that was more or less what they
were after."

"Hence the probability approaches unity that any more such ignorant
meddling as this obnoxious Tuly did well result almost certainly in
failure and death. Therefore we can not and will not meddle again."

* * * * *

"You've got a point there.... So what I am is some kind of a freak.
Maybe a kind of super-Master and maybe something altogether different.
Maybe duplicable in a less lethal fashion, and maybe not. Veree
helpful--I don't think. But I don't want to kill anybody, either ...
especially if it wouldn't do any good. But we've got to do _something_!"
Hilton scowled in thought for minutes. "But an Oman brain could take it.
As you told us, Tuly, 'The brain of the Larry is very, very tough.'"

"In a way, sir. Except that the Masters were very careful to make it
physically impossible for any Oman to go very far along that line. It
was only their oversight of my one imperfect brain that enabled me,
alone of us all, to do that wrong."

"Stop thinking it was wrong, Tuly. I'm mighty glad you did. But I wasn't
thinking of any regular Oman brain...." Hilton's voice petered out.

"I see, sir. Yes, we can, by using your brain as Guide, reproduce it in
an Oman body. You would then have the powers and most of the qualities
of both ..."

"No, you don't see, because I've got my screen on. Which I will now take
off--" he suited action to word--"since the whole planet's screened and
I have nothing to hide from you. Teddy Blake and I both thought of that,
but we'll consider it only as the ultimately last resort. We don't want
to live a million years. And we want our race to keep on developing. But
you folks can replace carbon-based molecules with silicon-based ones
just as easily as, and a hell of a lot faster than, mineral water
petrifies wood. What can you do along the line of rebuilding me that
way? And if you can do any such conversion, what would happen? Would I
live at all? And if so, how long? How would I live? What would I live
on? All that ki