His words came out of the tortured depths of him. "I was in the band of life. And it was against the pattern. There was no reason for it--no reason!" "Yes," she whispered sadly. "There was a reason. And if you persist in searching for that reason, you will surely have further proof of the shackles destiny binds us with." Alone in the quivering brightness hung Devil Star. Not make use of knowledge? No result without cause? The thoughts tugged and tore. Into his mind came the drugging answer to all problems. He slept. And in his sleep, an insidious process began working, a selection and burying of the hated answers. And when he awoke he knew, coldly secret within him, that he was exterior to the pattern--the rebel, the one who would revolt against destiny. <tb> Somewhere in the passing millions of years, the senseless, joyous years of youth, his Mother vanished forever. He took small note of it. Comet Glow, too, faded into a forgotten darkness. Other names passed from the scene. And in from the wings, for reasons none questioned, came other, younger energy creatures.... ... He played. And there was a green light, one of the twin siblings of Comet Glow, who played along with him. Her name was Dark Fire, and sometimes, looking down into the black whirling cauldron of a sun-spot, he could see the same primeval excitement with movement that marked her. He felt a wonderful sense of companionship with that green light, a tenderness, perhaps because he too had her taste for the unexpected. The pattern of play in this surging universe concerned the helter-skelter rearrangement of galaxies themselves. But Dark Fire often explored more novel avenues of play. Out of a nebula's heart she would come racing, trailing hot streams of excess energy--would circle him--dance--afire with some tremendous importance. But that friendship was to end. "Come, Devil Star, look what I've done!" He saw the planet she had made, and marvelled. A planet whose surface crawled with beings made of solid matter. An incredible kind of actual life whose base was silicon--or carbon; he did not try to find out. "It dies so swiftly," he said. "But its time-scale is different. I shall tend this planet," she dreamed. "The life-forms will improve on themselves. Maybe someday they will come on out into space." Excitement was in her. "And they will never know that she who created them watches their brave venture." For long and long Devil Star brooded over that planet. In the sub-swirls of his mind a remembrance shook him. "Something troubles you, Devil Star?" "Yes," he said faintly. "The creation of that planet. It is ... against the pattern!" She sensed the problem, but there was only cunning mockery in her gaze. "Against it? Devil Star, there is nothing against the pattern--and no one who can fight it." "No!" he cried in denial. "Dark Fire, you had your choice--to create or not to create. You selected--you were master of yourself in that selection."