All his chips were thinking furiously on the problem of what to do about the whalers. But there was no immediate solution besides physical force, and he was in no position to offer that. For the first time in history a kind-hearted Machine was knowing the terribly Human and Divine agony of being frustrated by helplessness. Instead he held the little Computer close and offered him all he could offer, silent comfort. Humans and Whales both have gray matter in their brains.
Gray matter is where learning, memory, and reasoning take place.
It is the seat of consciousness, intelligence, memory, love and creativity. Some Whales have six times as much gray matter as Humans do. Fireflower shook his head sadly. He had no answer. They think they've outgrown Him.