She pointed to a small seat, but though her eyes smiled a welcome she said nothing until Alvin had made himself comfortable-or as comfortable as he could be under that intense though friendly scrutiny. The she sighed, and addressed Alvin in a low gentle voice.
«This is an occasion which does not often arise, so you will excuse me if I do not know the correct behavior. But there are certain rights due to a guest, even if an unexpected one. Before we talk, there is something about which I should warn you. I can read your mind.»
She smiled at Alvin’s obvious consternation, and added quickly: «There is no need to let that worry you. No right is respected more strongly than that of mental privacy. I will enter your mind only if you invite me to. But it would not be fair to hide this fact from you, and it will explain why we find speech somewhat slow and difficult. It is not often used here.»
This revelation, though slightly alarming, did not surprise Alvin. Once both men and machines had possessed this power, and the unchanging machines could still read their masters’ orders. But in Diaspar, man himself had lost the gift he had once shared with his slaves.
«I do not know what brought you from your world to ours,» continued Seranis, «but if you are looking for life, your search has ended. Apart from Diaspar, there is only desert beyond our mountains.»
It was strange that Alvin, who had questioned accepted beliefs so often before, did not doubt the words of Seranis. His only reaction was one of sadness that all his teaching had been so nearly true.
«Tell me about Lys,» he begged. «Why have you been cut off from Diaspar for so long, when you seem to know so much about us?»
Seranis smiled at his eagerness. «Presently,» she said. «But first I would like to know something about you. Tell me how you found the way here, and why you came. «
Haltingly at first, and then with growing confidence. Alvin told his story. He had never spoken with such freedom before; here at last was someone who would not laugh at his dreams because they knew those dreams were true. Once or twice Seranis interrupted him with swift questions, when he mentioned some aspect of Diaspar that was unfamiliar to her. It was hard for Alvin to realize that things which were part of his everyday life would be meaningless to someone who had never lived in the city and knew nothing of its complex culture and social organization. Seranis listened with such understanding that he took her comprehension for granted; not until much later did he realize that many other minds besides hers were listening to his words.
When he had finished, there was silence for a while. Then Seranis looked at him and said quietly: «Why did you come to Lys?»
Alvin glanced at her in surprise.
«I’ve told you,» he said. “I wanted to explore the world. Everyone told me that there was only desert beyond the city, but I had to see for myself.»
«And was that the only reason?»
Alvin hesitated. When at last he answered, it was not the indomitable explorer who spoke, but the lost child who had been born into an alien world «No,» he said softly, «that wasn’t the only reason-though I did not know it until now I was lonely «
«Lonely? In Diaspar?» There was a smile on the lips of Seranis, but sympathy in her eyes, and Alvin knew that she expected no further answer.
Now that he had told his story, he waited for her to keep her share of the bargain. Presenty Seranis rose to her feet and began to pace to and fro on the roof.
«I know the questions you wish to ask,» she said. «Some of them I can answer, but it would be wearisome to do it in words. If you will open your mind to me, I will tell you what you need to know. You can trust me: I will take nothing from you without your permission.»
«What do you want me to do?» said Alvin cautiously.
«Will yourself to accept my help-look at my eyes-and forget everything,» commanded Seranis.
Alvin was never sure what happened then. There was a total eclipse of all his senses, and though he could never remember acquiring it, when he looked into his mind the knowledge was there.
He saw back into the past, not clearly, but as a man on some high mountain might look out across a misty plain. He understood that Man had not always been a city dweller, and that since the machines gave him freedom from toil there had always been a rivalry between two different types of civilizaton. In the Dawn Ages there had been thousands of cities, but a large part of mankind had preferred to live in relatively small communities. Universal transport and instantaneous communication had given them all the contact they required with the rest of the world, and they felt no need to live huddled together with millions of their fellows.
Lys had been little different, in the early days, from hundreds of other communities. But gradually, over the ages, it developed an independent culture which was one of the highest that mankind had ever known. It was a culture based largely upon the direct use of mental power, and this set it apart from the rest of human society, which came to rely more and more upon machines.
Through the aeons, as they advanced along their different roads, the gulf between Lys and the cities widened. It was bridged only in times of great crisis; when the Moon was falling its destruction was carried out by the scientists of Lys. So also was the defense of Earth against the Invaders, who were held at bay in the final Battle of Shalmirane.
That great ordeal exhausted mankind; one by one the cities died and the desert rolled over them. As the population fell, humanity began the migration that was to make Diaspar the last and greatest of all cities.
Most of these changes did not affect Lys, but it had its own battle to fight-the battle against the desert. The natural barrier of the mountains was not enough, and many ages passed before the great oasis was made secure. The picture was blurred here, perhaps deliberately. Alvin could not see what had been done to give Lys the virtual eternity that Diaspar had achieved.
The voice of Seranis seemed to come to him from a great distance-yet it was not her voice alone, for it was merged into a symphony of words, as though many other tongues were chanting in unison with hers.
«That, very briefly, is our history. You will see that even in the Dawn Ages we had little to do with the cities, though their people often came into our land. We never hindered them, for many of our greatest men came from outside, but when the cities were dying we did not wish to be involved in their downfall. With the ending of air transport there was only one way into Lys-the carrier system from Diaspar. It was closed at your end, when the park was built-and you forgot us, though we have never forgotten you.
«Diaspar has surprised us. We expected it to go the way of all other cities, but instead it has achieved a stable culture that may last as long as Earth. It is not a culture that we admire yet we are glad that those who wish to escape have been able to do so. More than you might think have made the journey, and they have almost always been outstanding men who brought something of value with them when they came to Lys.»
The voice faded; the paralysis of Alvin’s senses ebbed away and he was himself again. He saw with astonishment that the sun had fallen far below the trees and that the eastern sky already held a hint of night. Somewhere a great bell vibrated with a throbbing boom that pulsed slowly into silence, leaving the air tense with mystery and premonition. Alvin found himself trembling slightly, not with the first touch of the evening’s chill, but through sheer awe and wonder at all that he had learned. It was very late, and he was far from home. He had a sudden need to see his friends again, and to be among the familiar sights and scenes of Diaspar.