“The decision is not in my hands,” replied Seranis, “but I will put it to the Council when it meets three days from now. Until then, you can remain as my guest, and Theon will show you our country.”
“I would like to do that,” said Alvin, “but Rorden will be waiting for me. He knows where I am, and if I don’t come back at once anything may happen.”
Seranis smiled slightly.
“We have given that a good deal of thought,” she admitted. “There are men working on the problem now- we will see if they have been successful.”
Alvin was annoyed at having overlooked something so obvious. He knew that the engineers of the past had built for eternity-his journey to Lys had been proof of that. Yet it gave him a shock when the chromatic mist on the visiphone screen drifted aside to show the familiar outlines of Rorden’s room.
The Keeper of the Records looked up from his desk. His eyes lit when he saw Alvin.
“I never expected you to be early,” he said-though there was relief behind the jesting words. “Shall I come to meet you?”
While Alvin hesitated, Seranis stepped forward, and Rorden saw her for the first time. His eyes widened and he leaned forward as if to obtain a better view. The movement was as useless as it was automatic: Man had not lost it even though he had used the visiphone for a thousand million years.
Seranis laid her hands on Alvin’s shoulders and began to speak. When she had finished Rorden was silent for a while.
“I’ll do my best,” he said at length. “As I understand it, the choice lies between sending Alvin back to us under some form of hypnosis-or returning him with no restrictions at all. But I think I can promise that even if it learns of your existence, Diaspar will continue to ignore you.”