ut
to its reason. A threat which the obliteration of the last molecular
ribbon of these beings will not erase, for we cannot obliterate the fact
that they _did_ exist--and what they were.

Although these beings bear a crude resemblance to the machinery
manufactured by the Empire, they are not machines. They are
autochthonous to Earth, unmanufactured. They are the true Terrans.
Moreover, the Terrans whom DIRA IV would liberate are not, in the eyes
of their enslavers, intelligent nor yet alive. They are Machines!

We, the entire Galactic Empire, are Machines.

* * * * *

In the younger regions of the galaxy, a myth persists that life was
formed by a Demi-urge, a being intermediary between the All-Knowing and
the lower creatures. The existence of man, as the beings of Earth term
themselves, makes necessary a serious re-examination of the old
tradition.

It is said that man, or beings like man--the Photosynthetics of the
Andromeda cluster, the Bristlers of Orc IV--created prosthetic devices
for their convenience and, when they tired of their history, breathed
their own life into them and died. On Earth the legend is still in
process. Many of the lower forms of life familiar throughout the galaxy
can be seen on Earth in the primordial character of an appliance. Man
regards the highest forms of life (as we know it) as tools--because he
made them. How can we deny the superiority of the Creator? How will it
feel to know we are nothing but machines?

This is the question that has so unsettled DIRA IV. Recently four of his
memory banks have had to be repaired. I don't speak in malice. His
dilemma will soon belong to all of us.

And yet I am confident. Man himself has legends of a Demi-urge. We are
his equals in this at least. Besides, the physical properties of his
being are ordered by the same laws as ours. He is as unconscious of his
maker as we so long were of ours.

The final proof of our equality--and the need for such a proof is only
too evident--can be had experimentally.

Do not destroy man. Preserve enough specimens for extensive laboratory
experiments. Learn how he is put together. Man's chemistry is elaborate
but not beyond our better Analysts. At last, refashion man. When we have
created these beings ourselves, we will be their unquestionable equals.
And creation will be again a mystery.

History demands this of us. I am confident of your decision.

THE END

End