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about half a day we will be in proper position to be kicked out of this close orbit back up to St. George.<br />
Then we can be heading for home instead of looking at it." He looked up at the clock readout on the<br />
lounge wall.<br />
“Time to change HoloMem crystals again," he said. He crouched, then flashed a smile at them through<br />
his neat, dark brown beard.<br />
"Come on," he said. "There is a lot of work to do to get this ship ready. Amalita and I will finish off the<br />
last of the HoloMem crystals, but the rest of you had better start buttoning up the ship; the gravity fields<br />
from that deorbiter will turn anything loose into a deadly missile." He jumped upward to the central deck<br />
as the others swam through the lounge door and spread out through the ship.<br />
Pierre swung over to the communications console and looked at Sky-Teacher over Amalita's shoulder.<br />
The robot cheela was patiently explaining something. Pierre stared in fascination at the image. With the<br />
million-to-one time differential, it had not surprised Pierre that the cheela would make a slow-response,<br />
long-living robot that could take over the demanding task of talking to the slow-thinking humans. What<br />
amazed Pierre was that the robotic creature was so realistic that it had a personality. Sky-Teacher was<br />
not robot-like in its mannerisms<br />
at all. In fact, it acted very much like a patient, old-time schoolmaster. One could almost hear the friendly<br />
smile and the greying hair in the voice. It was a relief to the humans to have Sky-Teacher to talk to. They<br />
no longer felt as if they were wasting a good portion of some cheela's lifetime if they made a mistake or<br />
paused for a moment.<br />
"We shortly will have filled up all your available HoloMem crystals," Sky-Teacher's image said, its halo<br />
of twelve robotic eyes doing a perfect imitation of the traveling wave pattern of a real cheela. "I am afraid<br />
that you will find most of this material is encrypted, since we are now the equivalent of many thousands of<br />
years ahead of you in development.<br />
"Yet, if it had not been for you, we would still be savages, stagnating in an illiterate haze for thousands or<br />
even millions of greats of turns. We owe you much, but we must be careful how we pay you back, for<br />
you too have a right to grow and develop on your own. For your own good, it is best that we cut off<br />
communication after this last HoloMem crystal is full. We have given you enough material to keep you<br />
busy learning for thousands of your years. Then we will both be off on our separate ways, seeking truth<br />
and knowledge through space and time. You in worlds where the electron is paramount, and we in<br />
worlds where the neutron dominates."<br />
A tone sounded and a small message appeared on the upper part of the screen.<br />
HOLOMEM CRYSTAL FULL<br />
"You are on your own now," Sky-Teacher said. "It is drawing near the time for you to leave. Goodbye,<br />
my friends."<br />
"Goodbye," Pierre said as the screen blanked.<br />
He turned to Amalita. "I'll put away the HoloMem crystal, and you start checking out the acceleration
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