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choose will be a better name, anoble name."<br />
01:30:05 GMT WEDNESDAY 22 JUNE2050<br />
"Look at those spaceships!" said Abdul. "They are almost 10 centimeters long and have multiple decks.<br />
They must be the equivalent of cruise ships, coming up to see the sights."<br />
"They are no longer spherical." Seiko was peering out an adjacent porthole. "They have found an<br />
efficient method of producing gravity, so they no longer need to carry along miniature black holes. Their<br />
technological capability is increasing at an astounding rate."<br />
"I wonder if they'll ever be able to move asteroids," Jean said wistfully.<br />
"They have plenty of energy to do the job," said Pierre. "It's just that Oscar is so fragile, and they and<br />
their machines are so dense."<br />
"Superman may be able to lift icebergs in the holovids," said Abdul. "But if he tried lifting a real iceberg<br />
he would end up with nothing but a pile of ice cubes."<br />
"There is no way they could bring Oscar back any sooner than six months," said Seiko in her<br />
authoritative Teutonic tone. "We might as well stop wishful thinking; it's counterproductive. We're going<br />
to die, and there is not much we can do about it. I'm going down to the galley for something to eat.<br />
Anyone care to join me?"<br />
"I'm not hungry just now," said Cesar. The others kept looking out the windows at the blizzard of visiting<br />
spacecraft.<br />
03:54:50 GMT WEDNESDAY 22 JUNE2050<br />
The turn eventually came when Lovely-Eyes at last gave up on his quest and returned to White Rock<br />
City, the homeland of his clan. He found the creche-master and asked for a position tending the young<br />
ones.<br />
"Few positions left," said Creche-Master/71. "PopCon Board decreasing cheela, more robots instead."<br />
Lovely-Eyes didn't like the abrupt language style that had developed in the last 60 greats of turns. Now<br />
that nearly every cheela had a horde of robots at its beck and call, and seldom interacted with other<br />
cheela, politeness had nearly dropped out of the language. After all, robots didn't have feelings and didn't<br />
have to be persuaded to do anything, just told to do it. Since he was talking to a cheela, however, he<br />
thought that perhaps he would do better if he used the old style.<br />
"I would really appreciate it if you could find a position for me," said Lovely-Eyes. "I have worked hard<br />
for 300 greats of turns and am looking forward to tending the hatc-lings."<br />
"Experience?" asked Creche-Master/71.
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