care to get used to the literal-minded conversation
that resulted; but eventually Mike felt he had worked out a
satisfactory communications ability with the overly obvious "cow."

What he wanted now was a situation report. If he simply asked for
that, however, he'd have received such miles of data that he'd have
been listening for hours. So instead he broke his question down into
the facets that he needed.

In a few minutes he had elicited the information that the solar flare
was now predicted to be terminated and the major part of the flare
protons past their solar orbital position within another ten hours;
that Earth co-ordinates had shifted, indicating their own orbital
shift to be a trifle over thirty-seven kilometers north in the past
eight hours.

North? he thought. Hot Rod's pull on a taut cable would be to the
south.

No. Lab One could be re-oriented to trail the thrusting balloon. But
the lab's servos should have prevented that re-orientation unless the
thrust were really heavy.

"What is our velocity?" he asked. Temporarily he was baffled by the
placid Cow's literal translation of his request as one for any actual
velocity, since she had replied with a figure very close to their
original orbital speed. "What is our velocity at right angles to
original course?" he inquired.

And the Cow's reply came: "Two-o-o hundred and fifty-seven point seven
six ce-entimeters per se-econd."

That should be about right for six hundred forty pounds of thrust for,
say, six and a half hours; and the distance of the orbit shift was
about right.

But the direction?

"Is Hot Rod pulling us north?" he asked.

"No-o-o," came the placid reply.

"If it's pulling us south, then why--" He stopped himself. Any "why"
required inductive reasoning, and of that the Cow was not capable.
Instead of asking why they were moving north with a south thrust, Mike
broke his question into parts. He'd have to answer the "why" himself,
he knew.

"Is Hot Rod pulling us south?" he asked.

"No-o-oo," came the answer.

This time he was more careful. "In which direction is the thrust on
Hot Rod oriented?" he asked.

"No-oorth."

"Then Hot Rod is--" Quickly he stopped and rephrased the statement
which would have had a question in its tone but not its semantics,
into a question that would read semantically. "Is Hot Rod pulling us
north?"

"No-o-oo," came the reply.

Carefully. "Is Hot Rod pulling us?"

"No-o-oo."

Mike was stumpe