“Do they still come then, the Bright Ones? Is the portal open still?”
“It has been lost and forgotten for many ages. And then he found it, who was my friend — and he came through. Do you know him, Thardis? Do you know of Philip Carlin?”
“No. My studies keep me much alone. Do you know, little brother, that I have almost attained the boundaries of pure thought? The greatest minds of the Empire said that was impossible. But I shall do it!”
Two flecks of living fire, whirling, tossing on the solar winds above the flaming river. And Thardis said, “What of the Empire? What of Vulcan? Was the portal forbidden and did our scientists forget?”
“It was forbidden”, Newton answered. “And then. .” He told Thardis slowly how the Old Empire had crashed and died, how its far-flung peoples had sunk into barbarism, how only yesterday as time goes in the universe they had climbed back part way up the ladder of knowledge.
He told Thardis many things and most of them were bitter and sad. But even as he told them he knew that to the other they were less than dreams. He had gone too far away into some strange distance of his own.
“So it is all gone”, mused Thardis. “The star-worlds, the captains, the many-throned kings. It is the law. You will learn it here, little brother. You will watch the cycle — birth and death and eternity — repeated forever in the heart of the Sun.”
His tenuous body rippled, poised for flight. “Farewell, little brother. Perhaps we shall meet again.”
“Wait! Wait “ cried Newton. “You do not understand. I can’t remain here. I must find my friend and then go back with him.”
“Go back?” repeated Thardis. “Ah, you are new! Once, I remember, I started to go back.”