"This concludes our interview until later this afternoon," the Imperator said. "I would suggest, in the meantime, that you consult the Brain. He can supply you with an understanding of our background which you may find useful."
Ostby was glad the Imperator had suggested his speaking with the Brain. He had made his decision now, but there was much the Brain could tell him that he needed to know.
He walked down one flight and into the room housing the Brain. When he arrived he found it awake and obviously watching him. Once again he experienced a vast discomfort in meeting that giant eye, with its mottled apperception. He wondered uneasily if it had the power to read his mind.
Ostby's unease was not lessened by the Brain's first words. "You have finished your interview with the Imperator," it said. "Evidently you were wise enough not to antagonize him or you would not be here now. Is there anything special you would like to ask me?"
There was much he wanted to learn from the Brain and Ostby had no hesitation in replying.
"What are you?" he asked without preliminaries. "How old are you, and just what is the extent of your powers?"
For a moment Ostby was afraid that he had, in some way, made a wrong approach, and that the Brain would refuse to answer him, for it was silent. But finally it said, quietly, "Perhaps one question at a time would be better for both of us. I can answer directly then, and you will be able to assimilate the answers more easily. Some of them will have many ramifications and require supplementary explanations.
"I am over five hundred years old. I was originally a man, the same as yourself, and one of the few real scientists our race has produced. I limited my activity to no one field, but delved into anything that interested me. One of my interests was longevity. When I decided that immortality was limited by the weaknesses of the bodily vehicle to which I was tied, I designed this instrument in which my brain resides, and trained others to make the essential transfer. Does that answer your questions?"
"All except the extent of your intellectual ability. The rumor is that you know everything."
"That, of course, is ridiculous. Knowledge is like a fan-shaped wave; beginning with the first fact learned, and spreading wider and wider the more one learns. I started with an exceptional intellect, and for five hundred years have acquired as much knowledge as that intellect, and a vast curiosity, could give me."
