"But if, on the other hand, their natures resulted from the pressure of their environment, we might be able to modify that environment and salvage our experiment."
"But what the hell am I? What did you mean when you said I was a test experiment?"
The Moderator seemed to have forgotten the existence of Saxon's weapon. He tugged at his lower lip with thumb and forefinger. "You are not a humanoid. You are one of us, a Varkan. We placed you as a baby on Earth to be raised as a humanoid."
"I was eleven," protested Saxon.
"A mere baby still, with psychological plasticity." The Moderator waved the objection aside. "If your disposition hardened into humanoid characteristics, then we would be safe in assuming that the humanoids, too, were a product of their environment.
"Of course, there were factors we couldn't control. The natural unfolding of your sixth and seventh senses in early childhood—"
Saxon burst out, "But I was twenty-seven when I developed a sixth sense and thirty-one—"
"My son, that's quite true. But you're only in your adolescence now."
"At thirty-eight," said Saxon in disbelief, "I'm an adolescent?"
The Moderator nodded. "And precocious at that!"