"I know, Haazahri. I know what it must be like. This book is the center of everything you believe. Your loves and dreams and hopes. Right now you must be telling yourself you ought to remain there, forever, your face in the dust before it. _The Book of the Dead_, Haazahri! Well, the _Book_ is lies, do you understand? Lies! And I can prove it, the Earth scientists here on Kedak can prove it to all your people. Listen to me, Haazahri. This book doesn't explain the wonders of reincarnation, as you thought it might. No, Haazahri! Although, out of context, what material your leaders had might indicate that it did. "This book is a book of instructions for the ruling classes of Kedak, through the unborn generations. The lies are explained, codified, systematized. There is no doubt, nothing left to interpretation. Keep them base, the book says. Keep them base and promise them a better life in their next incarnation, and they'll obey you. That's the cynical message of _The Book of the Dead_, Haazahri! Don't you see the difference between this and the true religions, in their many forms, of the other worlds? Yes, good behavior is rewarded, and should be rewarded. But what is good behavior for the Kedaki lowborn? Good behavior is merely servitude, slavery. And the reward which the slave-masters hold out is one which, in the beginning, in this book, they did not even believe themselves. It's a fiction, Haazahri! And they say so. They say so here. Do you believe me?" For a long time Haazahri did not answer. When she did, her voice was choked with sobs. "You ... you're an Earthman. You brought me out here to ... test me with _The Book_ and see ... not because you wanted me ... not because you love me. Matlin, Matlin...." Rhodes said, "Stand up, Haazahri, and show me your face. Stand up, Haazahri, and let me kiss your tears. And don't cry, Haazahri. There isn't any reason to cry. Yes, I'm an Earthman. But I love you, Haazahri; I love you--" She stood quickly and somehow he could sense that five thousand years of dogma and superstition were slipping away as, in time, with the passing of a generation perhaps, and with the understanding and patience of the rest of the galaxy, they would slip away for all of Kedak's peoples. She stood up boldly in the face of _The Book_, but seemed shy. She said, "Then Matlin is no more?" "I am Matlin and more than Matlin. Matlin was only a part of me. But you can call me Matlin, if you wish. All our lives." "Do _you_ wish?" "It is not my name." "Philrhodes?" "It is customary," he said, smiling, "to use one half or the other." "Phil? Phil?" she breathed tremulously, and came into his arms. Then, after a while, he tucked _The Book of the Dead_ under one arm and her hand under the other and started on the long trek back toward the sunshine. * * * * * Daylight was very bright, dazzling them. "There they are!" a voice shouted, and Haazahri screamed: "It's Felg!"