“There’s one problem I haven’t thought about until now,” he continued in a troubled voice, “and that’s the difference in our life-spans.” He said no more, but each knew what the other was thinking.
“I’ve been worrying about that a good deal,” Theon admitted, “but I think the problem will solve itself when our people get to know each other again. We can’t both be right-our lives may be too short and yours are certainly too long. In time there will be a compromise.”
Alvin wondered. That way, it was true, lay the only hope, but the ages of transition would be hard indeed. He remembered again those bitter words of Seranis: “We shall both be dead when you are still a boy.” Very well: he would accept the conditions. Even in Diaspar all friendships lay under the same shadow: whether it was a hundred or a million years away made little difference at the end. The welfare of the race demanded the mingling of the two cultures: in such a cause individual happiness was unimportant. For a moment Alvin saw humanity as something more than the living background of his own life, and he accepted without flinching the unhappiness his choice must one day bring. They never spoke of it again.
Beneath them the world continued on its endless turning. Sensing his friend’s mood, Theon said nothing, and presently Alvin broke the silence again.
“When I first left Diaspar,” he said, “I did not know what I hoped to find. Lys would have satisfied me once- but now everything on Earth seems so small and unimportant. Each discovery I’ve made has raised bigger questions and now I’ll never be content until I know who the Master was and why he came to Earth. If I ever learn that, then I suppose I’ll start to worry about the Great Ones and the Invaders-and so it will go on.”
Theon had never seen Alvin in so thoughtful a mood and did not wish to interrupt his soliloquy. He had learnt a great deal about his friend in the last few minutes.
“The robot told me,” Alvin continued, “that this machine can reach the Seven Suns in less than half a day. Do you think I should go?”
“Do you think I could stop you?” Theon replied quietly.
Alvin smiled.
“That’s no answer,” he said, “even if it’s true. We don’t know what’s out there in space. The Invaders may have left the Universe, but there may be other intelligences unfriendly to Man.”