"But those are Chosen," John exclaimed.

Raj spoke: "What do carnivores do when they've finished off the game?" metaphorical but correct, Center's passionless non-voice said, once consolidation is complete, die chosen lines would fall out with each other, the planet cannot support so large a lading class In conditions of intense competition, not indefinitely; and the social system resulting from conquest and slavery cannot be rationally adjusted to maximize productivity, internal reorganization would lead to the creation of a noble caste and the exclusion of most chosen lines.

Armies clashed, armed with strange, powerful weapons. Machines swarmed through the air, ran in sleek low-slung deadliness over the earth. Men died, Prote'ge' soldiers, civilians. the new nobility would fight among themselves, first with protege armies, rivalry would build.

A long sleek shape dropped on a pillar of white fire into a desert landscape. Landing legs extended, and a hatchway opened. technological progress would continue to an interplanetary-transport level, then fossilize, none of the contending factions on visager could afford to divert sufficient resources to reestablish stardr-ive.

A huge city, buildings reaching for the sun. It took a moment for John to recognize it as Oathtaking, and then only by the shape of the circular harbor and the volcanoes that ringed it. Suddenly one of the gant towers vanished in an eye-searing flash. one party among the nobility attempts to use the fallen chosen lines against die other, instead they rise against the nobility planet-wide, attempting to restore the old system, the proteges revolt, maximum entropy results.

Rings of violet fire expanded over the sites of cities, rising until the fireballs spread out against the top of the atmosphere. probability 87%, ±6%, Center added.

John sat, shaken. I'm just a kid, he thought. Not even good enough to make the Test of Life, a gimp. What'm I supposed to do about aU, this?