Gary answered with no sign but with action. He cried, "But Dr. Anjers—"
"The name, my foolish young Quixote, is not 'Anjers' but 'Borisu'. The second name I adopted to comply with your silly Earth tradition of two names for a single entity. It is an amusing joke. In our tongue the word 'anjers' means 'the fox'."
"Fox," growled Lark O'Day, "spelled r-a-t."
"But tell me, Borisu," persisted Gary, "if we are to die, there can be no harm in our knowing now ... why do your people bear such fierce hatred for those of our universe?"
Borisu glowered darkly. "That is a story too long to tell in its entirety. But a portion I will tell you that you may die realizing the implacable enmity of all Magogeans.
"It is a story which goes back many years—as we measure time in the true universe. Many millenia of your brief solar time.
"In true space once existed side by side two universes. That of our mother sun, which you call Sirius, and that of your parent star—Sol. Life spawned on the planets of these two systems; human life evolved. Men similar to you and me grew in stature and wisdom, developed civilizations, cultures.
"All this was long ago. For ages untold each planet lived in ignorance of its neighbors. But some two hundred years ago—I measure chronology now in Universal Constant time, which is the only true measurement—that race of azure-tinted humans who peopled Sol's fifth planet—"
"The predecessors of the Jovians?"
"Yes, they. The Gogeans they called themselves, for the name of their world was Gog. Their science discovered, as has recently your Earthly science re-discovered, space travel. Their employment of this knowledge was a parallel to your own. They ventured, explored, expanded. They colonized, transporting their people to the other worlds of your sun. They set up outposts, carrying their superior culture to every habitable world. So potent was their rule, so all-embracing their lordship, that all the other planets' creatures they made slaves, shuttling them back and forth between the worlds as they had need of them."