#final encyclopedia

[scifi2feature]

[periodically80s]

[namrog]

Why crouch? Ask yourself that. How old are you? Twenty? And you still ask that question? As you've gotten older haven't you begun to feel an isolation; A separation from all those around you? Haven't you found yourself forced, more and more often lately, to take charge of matters? To make decisions not merely for yourself, but for those with you, who aren't capable of making them for themselves? Quietly, but inevitably, taking charge - Doing what only you realize what has to be done for the good of all? I think you know what I'm talking about. At first you only try to tell them what should be done, because you can't believe - you don't want to believe - that they can be so helpless. But, little by little, you come to face the fact that while they may do things right under your continual coaching, they'll never understand enough to do what's necessary on their own, each time the need arises. And so, finally, worn out, you simply take over. Without their even realizing it, you set things in the path they should go. And all these little people follow it, thinking it's the natural course of events. Yes, you know what I'm talking about. You've already known it and started to feel the width and depth of this gulf that separates you from the rest of the race. Believe me when I tell you, that what you now feel, will steadily grow deeper and stronger as time goes on. The experience your more capable mind acquires, at a rate much faster than they can imagine, will continue to widen and widen the gap that separates you from them. In the end, there'll be little more kinship between you and them, than between you and any lesser creature. A dog or a cat, of which you've become fond. And you'll regret that lack of real kinship bitterly, but there'll be nothing you can do about it. No way to give them what they'll never be able to hold, anymore than you could give an appreciation of great art to monkeys. So, finally, to save yourself the pain that they don't even know you feel, you cut the last emotional tie you have with them, and choose instead, the silence, the emptiness, and the peace, of being what you are. Unique, and alone. Forever.

Bleys, Chapter 32, The Final Encyclopedia, Volume One.

Oh lordy this book has some moments.