"But he was kind...."
"And he is not liked by the other gods. Your father forbids it!"
"Frank, this obsession of yours is getting serious. The men have asked me to have a talk with you. If you don't get hold of yourself it might even mean the brig, man. Now I want you to tell me just what's behind all this."
"Well, sir, it's just that I think we're dead wrong in coming here at all. What we ought to do is protect these people from civilzation. We discovered them. When we go back and report it, they will be the property of modern materialism. Our supposed gifts to them will be nothing short of exploitation. I say we erase our discovery from the records."
"What?—I can see now why a couple of the boys had a fight with you. It's insane! For over ten centuries we have looked for other humans—"
"And now that we've found them, we plan to force them into our own way of life, as though we had found the only answer!"
"Frank, I'm sorry to put it this way, but this is an order. Keep your personal opinions to yourself. You're on probation and you're going to be watched. Dismissed!"
"The big one has stones in his head, Derla. Look at him up there on the clifftop. He has grown a beard. Each day he looks less a god and more a man. But he drinks qaral-juice too much. He stays away from us and he stays away from the other gods. What is the matter with him?"