Dr. Kang rejected 97 of the 100 potential vacuum tubes that the glass blowers guild had presented to him. They understood the techniques he showed them well enough but their tools and materials were still hopelessly primitive. Still, it was a better hit-rate than the last batch.

He took the three irregular, lop-sized tubes and began incorporating them into the haphazard contraption that now dominated the better part of three rooms. It would be the size of the entire building by the time Kang was finished with it.

The thing looked like a cross between an ancient computer an abstract art project. The light-covered protrusion onto which Dr. Kang was affixing the newest vacuum tubes was already covered in about a half-dozen of them. There was no such thing as standardization on this planet so he had to construct the machine around each tube rather than just screw them in.

"What's all this?" asked Gibson.

Dr. Kang hadn't noticed him there.

"It's a manual punch-card driven analog ansible," replied Dr. Kang, evidently quite proud of himself.

"Not an anti-matter refinery?" asked Gibson.

"It's going to take these cave-people a while yet to work up to attempting that kind of stuff without killing us all," Kang explained "In the meantime I'm going to attempt to get in touch with the Armstrong with the coconut radio."

"How can you have a manual ansible?" asked Gibson.

"You punch in the coordinates manually," replied Dr. Kang "That's why I'm also building a telescope. Once the sun goes down I'll pinpoint the location of the Armstrong and dial it in."

"Lieutenant-Commander Mitzner and I are going to go with a group of these people to the crash site to drag what remains of the lander back here," said Gibson "And then the Lieutenant-Commander and Ensign Gul are heading off to try and track down the Dragon while I escort the lander back."

"Riveting stuff," said Dr. Kang, not looking up from his work "Make sure to keep my assistant abreast of any developments."

"Do you think you can keep from disgracing the Armstrong and the entire Huxley Foundation for a few hours while we do this? I know you would pitch a hissy fit if we dragged you away from your work to come along."

"I would not pitch a 'hissy fit'," snapped Kang, looking up finally "I would launch a dignified protest against your prohibitively incompetent mismanagement of human resources."

"Should I take that as a yes?" asked Gibson.

"I have no intention of doing anything but finishing what I'm doing now," said Dr. Kang "Teaching these stone-agers how to build a difference engine is a full time job. You can rest assured that I won't bruise your ego by saving the day without telling you. It's actually quite rare for me to find a planet with anything on it more interesting than my work."

Commander Gibson decided that that was the best he was going to get from Kang, and left to join the others.

There was a sizable caravan, with one of those freaky wolf-spiders prepared for each of member of their group. In addition to Mitzner, Prince Asher was there as well as the eight armsmen whose wolf-spiders would be doing all the actual lander-dragging.

"I don't like the idea of leaving him alone," said Mitzner.

"Someone needs to stay with the lander for the trip back," said Gibson "And there's not too much damage he can do here. Sagan Major is already theoretically a Foundation world."

"For now," said Mitzner.

"To whom to you refer?" asked Asher.

"Dr. Kang," said Mitzner.

"But Dr. Kang is such a wise teacher!" insisted Asher "What could be the harm of leaving him alone?"

"He's insubordinate and lacks a moral compass," said Gibson "But it shouldn't be a problem. We're not going to be gone for that long."

"Who are you trying to convince?" asked Mitzner "Me or yourself?"

Gibson wasn't so sure. He steeled himself and then mounted the horrendously ugly spider-thing, causing his whole body to shiver.