“Impossible!” sighed Father Renaudin.
“Shall we accomplish our mission? Shall we bring a finished life’s work to a world’s end?” asked Rondah.
“Never! never! Eternity is too short to finish the endless labor of a universe! I doubt if God Himself has ever ended his work! From time beginningless to time eternal the march of labor goes on, from little sphere to larger, from lesser soul to greater, from duller intellect to one more brilliant! It is the changeless law for men and for angels alike! Onward, ceaselessly move onward, is the united aim of all dissevered instruments!
“There can come no pause. No man has ever moved an iota back since chaotic universes were spoken into moveless black of horrified space. Nor demon, nor angel, nor God on high has stopped the course, from its accomplished lower task on the path to do its unfinished higher task, of atom or of sun since first the blistering balls of howling, hissing fire were whirled away upon their non-clashing cycles. There is no end to labor! Labor is the duty of suns! Labor is the delight of Heaven!”
“When shall I chain my star? When may I drive it like the isle? When may I say to adverse fate, ‘Stand still?’” asked Regan.
“When you have eradicated sin from the hearts of all this humanity, now removed from the curse of Earth, when you shall have grown more aged and more wise than am I, for I cannot do that,” answered their guide; “no, I cannot do that!”
“What is the limit of our power?” asked Father Renaudin.
“There is no bound to what knowledge humanity may attain, save the clog of sin! Time, strength and study will overcome all other barriers!”
“Monarch of Fate is man! Man yet shall chain the stars; shall drive the harnessed worlds!” said Regan Farmington.
THE END.