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Ship began the conversation, which was unusual Usually, Ship only responded to his questions Ship’s first words had startled him

"As has been the case with other poets, do you think you are God?"

Panille had reflected on this "All the universe is God I am of this universe"

"A reasonable answer You are the most reasonable poet of My experience"

Panille remained silent, poised and watchful He knew Ship did not always give simple answers, and never simple praise

Ship’s response had been, onceyour silver net?"

"I’inal subject: "Why is there God?"

The answer popped into his head the way some lines of poetry occurred to him "Information, not decisions"

"Cannot God make decisions?"

"God is the source of information, not of decisions Decisions are human If God makes decisions, they are human decisions"

If Ship could be considered to feel excitement, that was the moment for it and Kerro sensed this There had been a pattern to the way Ship supplied inforht recognize He was being trained, sensitized, to ask the right question even of himself

As he waited at Shipbay Fifty, the questions were obvious, but he did not like soested

Why were they keeping hinaled a callous attitude toward their fellows And what use had the Colony found for a poet? Communication? Or were Hali’s fears to be believed?

The hatch in front of him scissored open with a faint swish of servosystems and a voice called out: "Hurry it up!"

Panille recognized the voice and tried not to show surprise as he stepped through into a reception room and heard the hatch seal behind him Automatics And yes, it was the bumbler, Doctor Winslow Ferry

With his recent analysis of Ferry, Panille tried to see the man sympathetically It was difficult Painful powers centered on this room, which was functional shipside standard: two hatches in metal walls, instruments in their racks, no ports The rooe coht led to a hatch in the far wall

It occurred to Panille that Ferry was old for shipside He had watery gray eyes full of false boredoave off a heavy floral perfuht your own recorder, I see" He punched a notation into the com-console which shielded hilanced at the shipcloth bag on Panille’s shoulder "What else you bring?"

"Personal possessions, clothe a few keepsakes"

"Hrrrm" Ferry made another notation "Let’s see"

The distrust in this order shocked Panille He put the bag on a flat counter beside the coh the contents Panille resented every stranger-touch on intimate possessions It becas which could be used as weapons The rumors were true, then The people around Oakes feared for their own flesh

Ferry held up the flexible net of silver rolled into its tie bands "Wha’s ’s?"

"I use that when I’ave it to me"

Ferry put it onto the counter with care, went back to exa’s contents So he passed beneath a lens behind him and studied details in a scanner whose shields prevented anyone else fro what he saw Occasionally, he made notations in the com-console

Panille looked at the silver net What was Ferry going to do with it? He could not take it!

Ferry spoke over his shoulder while exa under the scanner lens

"You think the ship’s God?"

The "ship"? The usage surprised Panille " yes"

And he thought back to that one conversation he had had with Ship on the subject That had been a test, too Ship was God and God was Ship Ship could do thingsmortal flesh Normal dimensions of space dissolved before Ship Time carried no linear restrictions for Ship

I, too, am God, Doctor Winslow Ferry But I am not Shi Or am I? And you, dear Doctor, what are you?

No doubting the origin of Ferry’s question Ship’s godhead remained an open question with many There had been a time when Ship was the ship, of course Everyone knew that froht Ship had been a vehicle for ence once The ship had existed in the limited dimensions which any human could sense, and it had known a destination It also had known a history of madness and violence The the ship had encountered the Holy Void, that reservoir of chaos against which all beings were required to measure therations and hints at a paradise planet so humankind

But Ferry was revealed as one of the doubters, one who questioned Ship’s version of history Such doubts thrived because Ship did not censure them The only time Panille had referred to the doubts, Ship had responded clearly and with a creative style to inspire a poet

"What is the purpose of doubts, Panille?"

"To test data"

"Can you test this historical data with your doubts?"

That required thought and Panille answered after a long pause "You are iven you false data?"

"I’ve found no falsehoods"

"Does that silence these doubts?"

"No"

"Then what can you do with such doubts?"

That involved"I put them aside until a moment arrives when they e your relationship with Me?"

"Relationships change constantly"

"Ahhh, I cherish the company of poets"

Panille was shaken out of this memory by the realization that Ferry had spoken to him several times

"I said, ’Wha’s ’s?’"

Panille looked at the object in Ferry’s hand

"It was my mother’s comb"

"The stuff! The material?"

"Tortoise shell It ca the avaricious glint in Ferry’s eyes "Wel I dunno about this"

"It’s a keepsake fros I have left If you take it I’ll lodge a formal coer, his eyes squinted, his hand treaze strayed to the silver net He knew the stories about this poet; this one talked to the ship in the quiet of the night and the ship answered

Once more, Ferry made a notation within the shielded secrecy of his coest speech: "You’re assigned groundside to Waela TaoLini and it serves you right There’s a freighter waiting in Fifty-B Take it She’ll ings back into the bag while Ferry watched with growing a? Panille wondered He preferred the er to his a out of the bag once more to check it No way What had happened to the people around Oakes? Panille had never seen such slyness and greed in a Shipman And the smell of that stuff on his breath! Dead flowers Panille sealed the bag

"Go on, they’re waiting," Ferry said "Don’t waste our time"

Panille heard the hatch open once aze on him all the way out of the reception room

Waela TaoLini? He had never heard the naht?