"And yet we thought like the Engineers," said Gary.
"Enough like them, at any rate, that we could work together. I wonder why that is.”
Caroline wrinkled her forehead. "Gary, you are certain these goblin things out there are the same race that came to the city of the Engineers?”
"I would swear it," Gary told her. "I got a good look at the one that was there. It sort of… well, burned itself into my mind. I'll never quite forget it.”
"And the voice," said Caroline. "I wonder if the voice has anything to do with the goblins.”
"The goblins," said the voice, "are my pets. Like the dogs and cats you keep. A living thing to keep me from loneliness.”
It did not surprise them to hear the voice again and each of them knew then that they had been waiting for it to speak up again.
"But," protested Caroline, "one of the goblins came to the city of the Engineers.”
The voice chuckled at them. "Of course, human thing, of course. As my representative, of course. For I must have representatives, don't you see.
In a material world, I must be fronted for by something that can be seen, that can be perceived. I could not very well go to a meeting of that great importance as a disembodied voice, as a thought stalking the corridors of that empty city. So I sent a goblin and I went along with him.”