The Second Experiment [antikvár]

Tec stood alone in deep shadow at the garden's edge, while before him rose the great golden helix of the Tower of History, its top glowing with light as dawn came to Roi-issa.Curiosity marks the sentient being, and mystery arouses desire for knowledge, even forbidden knowledge. Tec made Ms decision.I want to go inside, he thought, looking up at the Tower. Behind him, the sea of blooms he tended so carefully was opening for pollination by the morning air currents.The curiosity of even a smaU sentient being can put in motion events which may reach cosmic dimensions, but there was no one to tell Tec that. The only other intelligent life forms on the planet were the Roiiss, who were absorbed in that unending problem they called the Second Experiment. They had not bothered to speak to Tec for years, possibly because they did not consider him to be intelligent or alive. It was true that he was not composed of molecules capable of reproduction."But living things have other properties," muttered Tec stubbornly. "I am responsive and aware." He was not fuUy aware of just how stubborn he was.He had been gardener for the Roiiss for so long that he automatically looked back, noticing that yet another seedling had managed to implant itself upon the enormous statue of an ancient Roiiss that looked as if it had once fallen, inexplicably and carelessly, yet never been restored.