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We return to the rooarden and Raz constructs a ne We travel for a long ti on top of a stone slab The walls of this chah which I can see thousands of to us like silent, frozen sentries

Raz slips through one of the larger holes and I follow, gazing soleh the tombs differ in style and size to those on Earth, there&039;s no doubt that this is a graveyard It has the feel of death

"This place is

"It is a cemetery world," Raz says

"You ulp "Was it a war?"

"There was never life on this planet," Raz says "But there are populated planets nearby, and advanced beings ing their dead here, laying them to rest on a world of their own"

A world of the dead My goosebuthe minds of this universe&039;s creatures, we hoped to cheat destiny," Raz says softly, returning to the lecture "We kneould die before the universe ended We thought if we spread intelligence, the beings we created ht

"There are now ht Many are ence was never intended for this universe The earliest creatures showed no signs of evolving and developing souls"

"What do youhas a soul," Raz says "Animals don&039;t A soul forms when a creature thinks for the first ti process In some species it happens in every member at the same moment Inand they pass it on, intelligence spreading like a disease

"We cultivated the disease It was h, we quickly roups and set off for the far reaches of the universe, sowing intelligence everywhere ent

"We had no right to disturb the natural balance," Raz sighs "But you are a child of ourwild, no understanding of the past or plans for the future?"

"No," I answer after a short pause

"Nor do most others They have the choice We can&039;t force a species to evolve Soht it and return to their sies we set Life is easier for animals, but so ht and make peace, drea the tombs and headstones After a while I come to a shs softly and points towards the upper-right corner

A tiny chessboard has been carved into it As my eyes narrow, Raz points to the left corner, where another board has been carved Then he nods at a toe, intricate board has been painted over the center of this one, the na the black and white squares

"The Boards are key to the process," Raz says "We created the them after the Kah-Gash, we created mini-universes of sixty-four zones Once a species evolves to a certain point, we isolate their souls and take them into a Board, so that they can develop at an accelerated rate We also teach theins of the universe, the Kah-Gash and the Deht for the future of the universe"

"How come I don&039;t know all that?" I ask

"You have an undeveloped brain," Raz says, then raises his hands as I bristle "I eneral You have not evolved to the point where you can ht you Every species is the sah the rimaces "Humans will never corowth Universal understanding is not to be yours"