 What is ironic about keeping their books stored away in an airtight compartment?
Everything has evaporated in Maternite. A man my age does not hurry in the heat of the midday sun—maddugs nenglishmin go out in the midday sun, as the ancients say, although I often wonder why—but Xeon and Melia ran all the way down to the city. They were aware that they stood in the midst of an unprecedented happening; indeed, an emergency. They were created so long ago, indeed, that the ignorant believe them to have been constructed by the gods themselves. At such a time, many men feel impelled to make speeches, and one must not be disrespectful. The machines bear the exact number of children each year to balance the number of us whom the gods claim. Such it has always been from time immemorial."
 There is little use in preserving something if the meaning is lost upon those preserving it
 There is nothing in the books that can help Melopolis repair the Maternite or save its population  The books were already designed with technology that would keep them intact forever  There is little use in preserving something if the meaning is lost upon those preserving it  The books contain antiquated knowledge that will only set Melopolis back further