 What is ironic about keeping their books stored away in an airtight compartment?
In whose names Man finally left this earth, to seek his cousins among the stars. Gone now are all the ancient evils, wars, emergencies. 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. Indeed, the watcher is more a tradition than a necessity. They accompanied me past the marble pillars into the cool recesses of the Hall, then seated themselves on the floor as I took my place by the great table. At such a time, many men feel impelled to make speeches, and one must not be disrespectful. By this time, unfortunately, many of the Conclave had departed for home and supper. Yet perhaps it is for the best, for those left were the most earnest and intelligent. 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." It is at such times that I most revere the wisdom of the ancients, who decreed seventy years the minimum age for a member of the Conclave.
 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