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ages ago. Besides, every person in this building has been alerted that visitors are here. Come, let us look around.” Nevertheless, Adam had tasted jealousy which refused to ebb away completely from his mind. On all of Andromeda, he was the only being who knew such an emotion, mild as it was becoming. Thus to him the whole universe became flavored with some of the bitter in all its sweet. He had lost the bloom of his youth’s blossoming, and like a ripened fruit would know that bloom no more. They walked along the corridors, looking into the rooms on either side. The simplicity of everything, of the building itself and the many rooms, of all visible facilities, belied the complex purposes and activities to which everything herein was devoted. The experts seen working appeared to be engaged in light and meaningless play rather than in works that not only would tax the most brilliant people of earth, but would be far beyond their comprehension in most instances. All was being done by the retarded ones, supervised by a few peers such as Antares, which made the tour of inspection that much more awe-inspiring to ad Adam. On the way back to the office of Antares, he was informed of the true nature of the building. “This is the very center of our ship Andromeda,” said Antares. “We have four other control buildings at compass points. Any one can fully function i in the event that all the others should fail for war 1 1 ‘ tao cu c some reason. We have had no trouble in any one of them for some centuries.” Launie exclaimed at his words, as if she had not Finally they were once again in the office of Antares. He asked Launie and Adam to sit in their swivel chairs, as he drew the cabinet with the buttons and dials close to himself. “Now, Adam,” he began, “you will see something few men of earth—in fact no man in many centuries before—has seen. The import of it is self-evident, and there is no final evaluation. Even c ts 1 . 1 we wonder as to the nature of what we have, captured by our instruments, so your surmise in this case will be as good as ours. A child’s would probably be even better,” 115 ADAM MEETS ANTARES known this fact before. as good as ours.