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07 - Anthem - Ayn Rand · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven. It is dark here in the forest. The
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  Speaker 1: leaves rustle over our head, black against the last gold
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  Speaker 1: of the sky. The moss is soft and warm. We
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  Speaker 1: shall sleep on this moss for many nights till the
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  Speaker 1: beasts of the forests come to tear our body. We
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  Speaker 1: have no bed now save the moss, and no future
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  Speaker 1: save the beasts. We are old now, yet we were
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  Speaker 1: young this morning. When we carried our glass box through
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  Speaker 1: the streets of the city to the home of the scholars.
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  Speaker 1: No men stopped us, for there were none about the
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  Speaker 1: palace of corrective Detention, and the others knew nothing. No
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  Speaker 1: men stopped us at the gate. We walked through the
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  Speaker 1: empty passages and into the great Hall, where the World
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  Speaker 1: Council of Scholars sat in solemn meeting. We saw nothing
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  Speaker 1: as we entered, save the sky in the great windows,
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  Speaker 1: blue and glowing. Then we saw the scholars, who sat
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  Speaker 1: around a long time. They were as shapeless clouds, huddled
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  Speaker 1: at the rise of a great sky. There were the
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  Speaker 1: men whose famous names we knew, and others from distant
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  Speaker 1: lands whose names we had not heard. We saw a
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  Speaker 1: great painting on the wall over their heads of the
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  Speaker 1: twenty illustrious men who had invented the candle. All the
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  Speaker 1: heads of the Council turned to us as we entered.
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  Speaker 1: These great and wise of the earth did not know
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  Speaker 1: what to think of us, and they looked upon us
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  Speaker 1: with wonder and curiosity, as if we were a miracle.
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  Speaker 1: It is true that our tunic was torn and stained
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  Speaker 1: with brown stains which had been blood. We raised our
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  Speaker 1: right arm, and we said our greeting to you, our
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  Speaker 1: honored brothers of the World Council of Scholars. Then collective
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  Speaker 1: zero zero zero zero nine, the oldest and wisest of
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  Speaker 1: the council spoke and asked, who are you, our brother,
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  Speaker 1: for you do not look like a scholar. Our name
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  Speaker 1: is Equality seven two five two one, we answered, and
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  Speaker 1: we are a street sweeper of this city. Then it
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  Speaker 1: was as if a great wind had stricken the hall,
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  Speaker 1: for all the scholars spoke at once, and they were
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  Speaker 1: angry and frightened. A street sweeper, a street sweeper walking
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  Speaker 1: in upon the World Council of Scholars. It is not
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  Speaker 1: to be believed. It is against all the rules and
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  Speaker 1: all the laws. But we knew how to stop them,
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  Speaker 1: Our brothers, we said, we matter not nor our transgression.
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  Speaker 1: It is only our brother men who matter. Give no
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  Speaker 1: thought to us, for we are nothing. But listen to
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  Speaker 1: our words, for we bring you a gift such as
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  Speaker 1: has never been brought to men. Listen to us, for
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  Speaker 1: we hold the future of mankind in our hands. Then
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  Speaker 1: they listened. We placed our glass box on the table
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  Speaker 1: before them. We spoke of it, and of our long quest,
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  Speaker 1: and of our tunnel, and of our escape from the
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  Speaker 1: palace of corrective detention. Not a hand moved in that
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  Speaker 1: hall as we spoke, nor an eye. Then we put
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  Speaker 1: the wires to the box, and they all bent forward
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  Speaker 1: and sat still, watching, And we stood still, our eyes
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  Speaker 1: upon the wire, and slowly, slowly, as a flush of blood,
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  Speaker 1: a red flame trembled in the wire. Then the wire glowed.
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  Speaker 1: But terror struck the men of the council. They leaped
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  Speaker 1: to their feet, they ran from the table. They stood
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  Speaker 1: pressed against the wall, huddled together, seeking the warmth of
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  Speaker 1: one another's bodies to give them courage. We looked the them,
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  Speaker 1: and we laughed and said, fear nothing, our brothers. There
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  Speaker 1: is a great power in these wires. But this power
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  Speaker 1: is tamed. It is yours. We give it to you.
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  Speaker 1: Still they would not move. We give you the power
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  Speaker 1: of the sky, we cried, We give you the key
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  Speaker 1: to the earth. Take it, and let us be one
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  Speaker 1: of you, the humblest among you. Let us work together
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  Speaker 1: and harness this power and make it ease the toil
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  Speaker 1: of men. Let us throw away our candles and our torches.
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  Speaker 1: Let us flood our cities with light. Let us bring
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  Speaker 1: a new light to men. But they looked upon us,
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  Speaker 1: and suddenly we were afraid, for their eyes were still
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  Speaker 1: and small and evil. Our brothers, we cried, have you
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  Speaker 1: nothing to say to us? Then Collective zero zero zero
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  Speaker 1: zero nine moved forward. They moved to the table, and
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  Speaker 1: the others followed. Yes, spoke Collective zero zero zero zero nine,
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  Speaker 1: we have much to say to you. The sound of
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  Speaker 1: their voice brought silence to the hall, and to the
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  Speaker 1: beat of our heart. Yes, said Collective zero zero zero
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  Speaker 1: zero nine. We have much to say to a wretch
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  Speaker 1: who have broken all the laws, and who boast of
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  Speaker 1: their infamy. How dared you think that your mind held
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  Speaker 1: greater wisdom than the minds of your brothers. And if
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  Speaker 1: the council had agreed that you'd be a street sweeper,
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  Speaker 1: how dared you think that you could be of greater
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  Speaker 1: use to men than in sweeping the streets. How dared
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  Speaker 1: you gut her cleaner? Spoke Fraternity nine three four five two.
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  Speaker 1: To hold yourself as one alone and with thoughts of
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  Speaker 1: one and not of many, you shall be burned at
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  Speaker 1: the stake, said de Maco six nine nine eight. No,
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  Speaker 1: this should be lashed, said Unanimity seven three three oh four,
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  Speaker 1: till there is nothing left under the lashes. No, said
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  Speaker 1: Collective zero zero zero zero nine. We cannot decide upon this,
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  Speaker 1: our brothers. No such crime has ever been committed, and
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  Speaker 1: it is not for us to judge, nor for any
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  Speaker 1: small council. We shall deliver this creature to the World
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  Speaker 1: Council itself, and let their will be done. We looked
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  Speaker 1: upon them, and we pleaded, our brothers, you're right. Let
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  Speaker 1: the will of the Council be done upon our body.
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  Speaker 1: We do not care but the light. What will you
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  Speaker 1: do with the light? Collective zero zero zero zero nine
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  Speaker 1: looked upon us, and they smiled. So you think you
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  Speaker 1: have found a new power, said Collective zero zero zero
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  Speaker 1: zero nine. Do you think all your brothers think that? No,
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  Speaker 1: we answered, what is not thought by all men cannot
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  Speaker 1: be true, said collective zero zero zero zero nine. You
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  Speaker 1: have worked on this alone, asked International one five five
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  Speaker 1: three seven. Yes, we answered, What is not done collectively
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  Speaker 1: cannot be good, said International one five five three seven.
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  Speaker 1: Many men in the homes of the scholars have had
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  Speaker 1: strange new ideas in the past, said Solidarity eight one
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  Speaker 1: one sixty four. But when the majority of their brother
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  Speaker 1: scholars voted against them, they abandoned their ideas, as all
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  Speaker 1: men must. This box is useless, said Alliance six seven
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  Speaker 1: three four nine. Should it be what they claim of it,
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  Speaker 1: said Harmony nine two six four to two, then it
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  Speaker 1: would bring ruin to the Department of candles. The candle
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  Speaker 1: is a great boon to mankind, as approved by all men.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore it cannot be destroyed by the whim of one.
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  Speaker 1: This would wreck the plans of the World Councils, said
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  Speaker 1: Unanimity to nine nine one three. And without the plans
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  Speaker 1: of the World Council, the sun cannot rise. It took
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  Speaker 1: fifty years to secure the approval of all the councils
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  Speaker 1: for the candle, and to decide upon the number needed,
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  Speaker 1: and to refit the plans so as to make the
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  Speaker 1: candles instead of the torches this touched upon thousands and
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  Speaker 1: thousands of men working in scores of states. We cannot
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  Speaker 1: alter the plans again so soon. And if this should
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  Speaker 1: lighten the toil of men, said similarity five zero three
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  Speaker 1: zero six, then it is a great evil, for men
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  Speaker 1: have no cause to exist save in toiling for other men.
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  Speaker 1: Then collective zero zero zero zero nine rose and pointed
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  Speaker 1: at our box. This thing, they said, must be destroyed,
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  Speaker 1: And all the others cried as one, it must be destroyed.
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  Speaker 1: Then we leapt to the table, We seized our box.
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  Speaker 1: We shoved them aside, and we ran to the window.
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  Speaker 1: We turned, and we looked at them for the last time,
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  Speaker 1: and a rage such as is not fit for humans
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  Speaker 1: to know, choked our voice in our throat. You fools,
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  Speaker 1: we cried, you fools, do you thrice? Damned fools? We
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  Speaker 1: swung our fists through the windowpane, and we leapt out
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  Speaker 1: in a ringing rain of glass. We fell, but we
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  Speaker 1: never let the box fall from our hands. Then we ran,
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  Speaker 1: We ran blindly, and men and houses streaked past us
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  Speaker 1: in a torrent without shape, And the road seemed not
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  Speaker 1: to be flat before us, but as if it were
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  Speaker 1: leaping up to meet us. And we waited for the
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  Speaker 1: earth to rise and strike us in the face. But
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  Speaker 1: we ran. We knew not where we were going. We
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  Speaker 1: knew only that we must run, run to the end
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  Speaker 1: of the world, to the end of our days. Then
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  Speaker 1: we knew suddenly that we were lying on a soft earth,
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  Speaker 1: and that we had stopped. Trees taller than we had
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  Speaker 1: ever seen before stood over us in a great silence.
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  Speaker 1: Then we knew we were in the uncharted forest. We
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  Speaker 1: had not thought of coming here, but our legs had
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  Speaker 1: carried our wisdom, and our legs had brought us to
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  Speaker 1: the uncharted forest against our will. Our glass lay beside us.
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  Speaker 1: We crawled to it. We fell upon it, our face
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  Speaker 1: in our arms, and we lay still. We lay thus
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  Speaker 1: for a long time. Then we rose, We took our
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  Speaker 1: box and walked on into the forest. It mattered not
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  Speaker 1: where we went. We knew that men would not follow us,
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  Speaker 1: for they never entered the uncharted forest. We had nothing
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  Speaker 1: to fear from them. The forest disposes of its own victims.
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  Speaker 1: This gave us no fear either. Only we wished to
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  Speaker 1: be away from the city and the air that touches
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  Speaker 1: upon the air of the city. So we walked on
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  Speaker 1: our box in our arms, our heart empty. We are doomed.
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  Speaker 1: Whatever days are left to us, we shall spend them alone.
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  Speaker 1: And we have heard of the corruption to be found
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  Speaker 1: in solitude. We have torn ours from the truth which
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  Speaker 1: is our brother men, and there is no road back
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  Speaker 1: for us, and no redemption. We know these things, but
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  Speaker 1: we do not care. We care for nothing on earth.
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  Speaker 1: We are tired. Only the glass box in our arms
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  Speaker 1: is like living heart that gives us strength. We have
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  Speaker 1: lied to ourselves. We have not built this box for
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  Speaker 1: the good of our brothers. We built it for its
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  Speaker 1: own sake. It is above all our brothers. To us,
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  Speaker 1: it is truth, above their truth. Why wonder about this?
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  Speaker 1: We have not many days to live. We are walking
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  Speaker 1: to the fangs awaiting us somewhere among the great silent trees.
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  Speaker 1: There is not a thing behind us to regret. Then
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  Speaker 1: a blow of pain struck us, our first and our only.
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  Speaker 1: We thought of the golden One. We thought of the
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  Speaker 1: golden One, whom we shall never see again. Then the
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  Speaker 1: pain passed. It is best we are one of the damned.
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  Speaker 1: It is best if the Golden One forget our name
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  Speaker 1: and the body which bore that name. End Chapter seven.