.  If so,  the agent sends a message to its remote counterpart
asking it to help expand the formula in  question.  The answer may be a complete
set of bindings, but more commonly it is simply a  partial result, still
containing unbound variables.  The local agent incorporates the result  into
its own proof tree just as if it had done the work itself, and continues
its task.  In  many cases, the local agent may need to consult the remote
agent, or several remote agents,  multiple times in the course of its i