“You have guessed correctly,” said Rashaverak. “It is no longer safe for us to stay. They may ignore us still, but we cannot take the risk. We leave as soon as our equipment can be loaded — probably in two or three hours.”
He looked up at the sky, as if afraid that some new miracle was about to blaze forth. But all was peaceful: the Moon had set, and only a few clouds rode high upon the west wind.
“It does not matter greatly if they tamper with the Moon,” Rashaverak added,
“but suppose they begin to interfere with the Sun? We shall leave instruments behind, of course, so that we can learn what happens.”
“I shall stay,” said Jan abruptly. “I have seen enough of the universe. There’s only one thing I’m curious about now — and that is the fate of my own planet.”
Very gently, the ground trembled underfoot.
“I was expecting that,” Jan continued. “If they alter the Moon’s spin, the angular momentum must go somewhere. So the Earth is slowing down. I don’t know which puzzles me more — how they are doing it, or why.”
“They are still playing,” said Rashaverak. “What logic is there in the actions of a child? And in many ways the entity that your race has become is still a child. It is not yet ready to unite with the Overmind. But very soon it will be, and then you will have the Earth to yourself.”
He did not complete the sentence, and Jan finished it for him.
“If, of course, the Earth still exists.”