“What has started this thing?” asked George. “And where is it going to lead?”
“That is something we cannot answer. But there are many races in the universe, and some of them discovered these powers long before your species — or mine — appeared on the scene. They have been waiting for you to join them, and now the time has come.”
“Then where do you come into the picture?”
“Probably, like most men, you have always regarded us as your masters. That is not true. We have never been more than guardians, doing a duty imposed upon us from — above. That duty is hard to define: perhaps you can best think of us as midwives attending a difficult birth. We are helping to bring something new and wonderful into the world.”
Rashaverak hesitated: for a moment it almost seemed as if he was at a loss for words.
“Yes, we are the midwives. But we ourselves are barren.”
In that instant, George knew he was in the presence of a tragedy transcending his own. It was incredible — and yet somehow just. Despite all their powers and their brilliance, the Overlords were trapped in some evolutionary cul-de-sac. Here was a great and noble race, in almost every way superior to mankind; yet it had no future, and it was aware of it. In the face of this, George’s own problems seemed suddenly trivial.
“Now I know,” he said, “why you have been watching Jeffrey. He was the guinea pig in this experiment.”
“Exactly — though the experiment was beyond our control. We did not start it — we were merely trying to observe. We did not interfere except when we had to.”
Yes, thought George — the tidal wave. It would never do to let a valuable specimen be destroyed. Then he felt ashamed of himself: such bitterness was unworthy.