nd well-fed by the keepers outside. An extinct beast, left to be tended
until the earth reached the end of its course as a flaming speck in the
infinite cavern of space!

"You--you _must_ take me! I couldn't stand it now. How can I go back,
knowing we're just a miserable experiment? Please--I'll go crazy!"

"Even now you exhibit one of your primitive traits--pride of being a
man. But you will adjust to life. It is as it should be."

"But--"

"I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do."

"No, wait--I...."

The two men were gone.

Sethos stared. He was alone in the room. A constriction grew in his
throat, and he felt weak. Indeed, man had changed.

"Sethos?"

Mr. First stood in the door.

"Yes...."

Now the pattern was clear. Sethos--the curious man, the genius--was
doomed. He had lost a battle in which he never had a chance. Still, he
had fought.

But walking down the corridor with the mechanoid, he knew that no one
lost completely. He knew that Sethos, the human, the adjusted hobbyist,
would soon look back on this night as though it were an ordinary phase
of life.

Then, on the table, with the gently humming mechanism lowered to his
head, the knot in his throat softened.

"All yours," said Mr. First to Mr. Third.

"A remarkable case," said Mr. Third. "Sometimes I wish we kept a record
of his kind. It might be very interesting."

"Someday, perhaps. When our work grows dull."

End of Project Gutenberg's The Genius, by Con Pederson and Paul Orban

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