“I found myself in sympathy with Irad’s brother. Unlike Jaspeth I didn’t want to destroy the library and let the races crawl from increasingly infertile mud at every cycle. But I felt they should be taught to walk before they were given racehorses, chariots, ornithopters to take them to the sky. I felt that knowledge should be earned through wisdom. “Sadly, my own wisdom has not been equal to the task. I have grown old, and war has overtaken my efforts. “But the truth is that I traded immortality for the chance to help you.
