Sokolovsky returned from his search all on fire. “Such

Corpang's nostrils swelled, and he held himself more proudly. "What fire is that?"

They both glanced instinctively at the three statues. In the strange glow they had undergone a change. The face of each figure was clothed in the sordid and horrible Crystalman mask.

Corpang cried out and put his hand over his eyes. "What can this mean?" he asked a minute later.

"It must mean that life is wrong, and the creator of life too, whether he is one person or three."

Corpang looked again, like a man trying to accustom himself to a shocking sight. "Dare we believe this?"

"You must," replied Maskull. "You have always served the highest, and you must continue to do so. It has simply turned out that Thire is not the highest."

Corpang's face became swollen with a kind of coarse anger. "Life is clearly false - I have been seeking Thire for a lifetime, and now I find - this."

"You have nothing to reproach yourself with. Crystalman has had eternity to practice his cunning in, so it's no wonder if a man can't see straight, even with the best intentions. What have you decided to do?"