this world. Not even the savage Eaters had it. Men organized
us to exterminate the Eaters, and therein lay the difference.
Men had initiative. We have the word now, which you gave
us, and we apply it, but we still do not know what the thing is
that it labels.”
“You fought beside us,” Lavon said.
“Gladly. We would never have thought of that war by our-
selves, but it was good and brought good. Yet we wondered.
We saw that men were poor swimmers, poor walkers, poor
crawlers, poor climbers. We saw that men were formed to
make and use tools, a concept we still do not understand, for
so wonderful a gift is largely wasted in this universe, and there
is no other. What good are tool-useful members such as the
hands of men? We do not know. It seems plain that so radical
a thing should lead to a much. greater rulership over the world
than has, in fact, proven to be possible for men.”
Lavon’s head was spinning. “Para, I had no notion that you
people were philosophers.”
“The Protos are old,” Shar said. He had again turned to
look out the window, his hands locked behind his back. “They
aren’t philosphers, Lavon, but they are remorseless logicians.
Listen to Para.”
“To this reasoning there could be but one outcome,” the
Para said. “Our strange ally, Man, was like nothing else in this
universe. He was and is unfitted for it. He does not belong
here; he has beenadapted. This drives us to think that there
are other universes besides this one, but where these universes
might lie, and what their properties might be, it is impossible