"You do all right," snapped the financier.
"I," smiled Gerd Lel Rayne, "was ... born to this. I used nothing to enhance my ... native intellect."
"What's wrong with it, though? I can do without progeny."
"Civilization can not."
"Civilization will know nothing—"
"They will find out. I regret that I tried to dissuade you. In showing you the error of continuing this line of research, I gave you the hint that opened the corridor to you. That was a mistake.
"Be that as it may," continued Gerd, "I must now try to show you more of the future. You are slowly gaining in power, Wanniston, and you will eventually become the most hated man on Terra."
"A shame, I'm sure," snorted Wanniston.
"That attitude will cause you grief," admonished Gerd Lel Rayne. "You should use power wisely, not use it in sharpering your associates out of their rights."
"I've never cheated—"