"Mr. Garth, sir, is that right, what we heard?"
Scoop's wolfish face was a mask of fear, doubt, and hesitation.
Garth swallowed. He nodded.
"But—" the reporter gestured toward the globe. "How can men be in that?"
Garth answered slowly. "A lot can be learned in two million years. It is not impossible. You, the you that really exists, your mind, your consciousness, is a movement of thought within a suitable medium. Evolution provided a chemical medium, a mass of tissue, your brain. That is all you really are, the movement of current within your brain cells.... The men who came two million years after us found a better medium than the brain. Upon that better medium, they impressed their thinking."
Garth hesitated, and when he spoke, it was not to Martin, but to someone else.
"Is that not right?"
There was a rustle in the air. A voice whispered.
"In essence, that is correct. It was not so simple as that, but you have the underlying thought. In the year that we have yet to live, we will teach you the process. Perhaps you may discover our error. Perhaps you will want to use other methods. We cannot advise on that point. The only thing that matters is that the race must go on to whatever is its ultimate destiny."
Sighing with the pulse of failing energy, the whisper ceased.