were
dead. Kiron felt, at such times, the great loneliness that the last
Master must have known.

They had been kind, The Masters, and Kiron knew that his people, as they
went about their eternal tasks of keeping the great city in perfect
shape for The Masters who no longer needed it, must miss them as he did.

Never to hear their voices ringing, never to see them again gathered in
groups to witness some game or to play amid the silver fountains and
flowery gardens of the wondrous city, made him infinitely saddened. It
would always be like this, unless....

But thinking, dreaming, reminiscing would not bring it all back for
there was only one answer to still the longing: work. The others worked
and did not dream, but instead kept busy tending to the thousand and one
tasks The Masters had set them to do--had left them doing when the last
Master perished. He too must remember the trust they had placed in his
hands and fulfill it as best he could.

From the time the great red eye of the sun opened itself in the East
until it disappeared in the blue haze beyond the crysolite city, Kiron
labored with his fellows. Then, at the appointed hour, the musical
signals would peal forth their sweet, sad chimes, whispering goodnight
to ears that would hear them no more and all operations would halt for
the night, just as it had done when The Masters were here to supervise
it.

Then when morning came he would start once more trying, testing,
experimenting with his chemicals and plastics, forever following
labyrinth of knowledge, seeking for the great triumph that would make
the work of the others of some real use.

His hands molded the materials carefully, lovingly to a pattern that was
set in his mind as a thing to cherish. Day by day his experiments in
their liquid baths took form under his careful modeling. He mixed his
chemicals with the same loving touch, the same careful concentration and
painstaking thoroughness, studying often his notes and analysis charts.

Everything must be just so lest his experiment not turn out perfectly.
He never became exasperated at a failure or a defect that proved to be
the only reward for his faithful endeavors but worked patiently on
toward a goal that he knew would ultimately be his.

Then one day, as the great red sun glowed like an immense red eye
overhead, Kiron stepped back to admire his handiwork. In that instant
the entire wondrous city seemed to breathe a silent prayer as he stood