"I hadn't thought of it that way." Mura slipped an arm around her shoulders and looked down at her impishly. "You suggest a fitting punishment then."
Here was the final test. If she could keep the hold that she had somehow gained over this immature superman, horrible things might be averted. Her thoughts raced in circles.
"Martians can play tricks with time?" she asked at last.
"Oh, yes. Time is like this mural. Let me show you: Aim your light at the left-hand corner of the picture. See the sun and its planets forming out of cosmic dust? Now move the beam toward the right. Slowly.... Slowly! Notice how Martian oceans form and living things crawl out of them.
"Now continue. There you see the winged Martians with their cities that long have crumbled to dust. Next, water grows scarce and canals are built. Here all but a few of us have lost our wings.
"Here we colonize Earth ... to our eternal regret. Finally, you see us abandon Mars rather than risk another test of strength with you pushing troglodytes."
"I-I don't understand," she whispered, strangely moved.
"That searchlight beam represents the living present. Where it shines, life pulses briefly on a vast mural that is painted across time, from its beginning to its end. Martians manipulate the light of the present as we please, living when we please, so long as we please."
"How dreadful.... Wonderful, I mean." She gazed at him worshipfully. "And you can do this for humans too?"