, blue
and glowing. Then we saw the Scholars who sat around a long table; they
were as shapeless clouds huddled at the rise of a great sky. There were
the men whose famous names we knew, and others from distant lands whose
names we had not heard. We saw a great painting on the wall over their
heads, of the twenty illustrious men who had invented the candle.

All the heads of the Council turned to us as we entered. These great and
wise of the earth did not know what to think of us, and they looked upon
us with wonder and curiosity, as if we were a miracle. It is true that
our tunic was torn and stained with brown stains which had been blood.
We raised our right arm and we said:

"Our greeting to you, our honored brothers of the World Council of
Scholars!"

Then Collective 0-0009, the oldest and wisest of the Council, spoke and
asked:

"Who are you, our brother? For you do not look like a Scholar."

"Our name is Equality 7-2521," we answered, "and we are a Street Sweeper
of this City."

Then it was as if a great wind had stricken the hall, for all the
Scholars spoke at once, and they were angry and frightened.

"A Street Sweeper! A Street Sweeper walking in upon the World Council of
Scholars! It is not to be believed! It is against all the rules and all
the laws!"

But we knew how to stop them.

"Our brothers!" we said. "We matter not, nor our transgression. It
is only our brother men who matter. Give no thought to us, for we are
nothing, but listen to our words, for we bring you a gift such as has
never been brought to men. Listen to us, for we hold the future of
mankind in our hands."

Then they listened.

We placed our glass box on the table before them. We spoke of it, and of
our long quest, and of our tunnel, and of our escape from the Palace of
Corrective Detention. Not a hand moved in that hall, as we spoke, nor an
eye. Then we put the wires to the box, and they all bent forward and sat
still, watching. And we stood still, our eyes upon the wire. And slowly,
slowly as a flush of blood, a red flame trembled in the wire. Then the
wire glowed.

But terror struck the men of the Council. They leapt to their feet, they
ran from the table, and they stood pressed against the wall, huddled
together, seeking the warmth of one another's bodies to give them
courage.

We looked upon them and we laughed and said:

"Fear nothing, our brothers. There is a great power in these wires, but
this power is tamed. It