who have two bodies and am at
home in neither of them will be a record that will finally be erased.
Are you ready?"

* * * * *

"No--wait. I must know what all this is leading to!"

"We have so little time! Well, then, it is leading to broken hearts, to
hatred, and to injustice. Perhaps to martyrdom, perhaps to glory. If my
plans fail, your lot will be public anathema as a fool or a murderer,
for I will prohibit you from ever clearing yourself by speaking the
truth about it."

"Who would believe it!"

"Enough would become curious. A little research along the right lines
and you would prematurely learn your own secret. Then a race of mad
demigods would be loosed through the void, an all-conquering scourge
instead of a blessing. I would sooner have your whole race die with your
very existence unsuspected, than have you live in infamy, the unchecked
tyrants of the stars. Not even the Challon could stand against you,
nor could they coerce a single one of you whose whole potential had been
released."

"Then what hope--"

"Timmy's newly-awakened mind will be completely sane. The aids I have
given it may keep it sufficiently sane for the next few years, despite
infection on all sides. In those years you will watch over him and
accumulate the funds that will be needed. That will not be difficult.
You must buy the lands surrounding the spaceship and build a laboratory
where you will conduct some dangerous experiments, thus explaining the
need for an isolated location. The laboratory is only a blind. The ship
must be freed from the swamp and repaired in some minor respects, then
an 'accidental explosion' one night will destroy the buildings to cover
the take-off. Timmy will be presumed killed in the explosion. His
parents will grieve, the public may blame you, and you will sink into
obscurity. You may live long enough to learn whether Timmy ever
succeeded in reaching Challon in a spaceship not designed for his race.
My memories and implanted commands will constantly guide and instruct
him--"

"How ... how old must he be?"

"As young as possible. As soon as all is ready. Tomorrow, if that were
possible."

"A child!"

"For at least a little while he will be more than the equal of a 'good'
man. Child, or youth, or man, I will free him from fear and loneliness
on the long voyage. If he reaches Challon, they will understand and
perhaps not think I have blundered too badly. They will heal