had said. "You
won't be able to stay long so we'll try to set you down right at the
South Pole. You won't have room to bring back specimens. So keep your
eyes open and absorb everything you see. Don't forget anything. What you
bring back in your mind weighs nothing."

"It's just sitting there," the observing banks reported, "and the red
flame has gone out."

"Is it safe now?" enquired the speculative bank.

"In what way?"

"Is it safe to go near that thing?"

"It's very huge," ventured the observing banks unasked. There was a stir
of activity which encompassed practically all except the most simple
units and which lasted for perhaps five minutes while the speculative
bank's last question was processed.

Finally the interpretive bank reluctantly admitted, "We can't arrive at
a positive answer. Too many unknown elements are present. We don't know
for sure what caused the flame, when it might start again, or what, if
anything, is inside."

"But you said it was a work of intelligence. Doesn't that mean Rell
would be inside?"

"Not necessarily. They could have constructed the thing to operate
itself."

It was just then that the observing banks reported, "It's opening."

The speculative bank quickly responded, "This is an emergency. We must
be able to observe from close up. We'll have to approach it."

"The entire mind?" enquired the disciplinary corps.

The speculative bank hesitated. "No, we'll need to split up. One-fifth
of us will go, the rest remain here. It's a short distance and we'll
still be able to continue in complete contact."

Those who were to go were quickly sorted out and Raeillo/ee13 was quite
thrilled to find he and Raellu//2 were included in the scouting party.

The group set off briskly toward their objective but had moved hardly
one hundred yards when a vertigo seemed to overtake them. Raeillo/ee13
found himself swimming helplessly in a vortex of darkness and isolation,
blanked off from not only the group-mind and his bank but also from
Raellu//2. Frantically he grasped for some sort of stasis, but
dependence on the group-mind was too ingrained and he was unable to stir
his long-dormant powers of sight and education.

Then the isolation cleared to be replaced by a brief impression of chaos
with perhaps a tinge of alienness. Another instant of vertigo followed
and then everything was normal once more as the comfortable familiar
mesh took hold.

"What was that?" Even the speculative b