"The old skin is cracking, the new skin has been silently forming underneath, the moment of sloughing has arrived."The storm gathered. The green snow drove against them, as they stood talking, and it grew intensely cold. None noticed it.
"What is your name?" asked Maskull, with a beating heart.
"My name, Maskull, is Spadevil. You, a voyager across the dark ocean of space, shall be my first witness and follower. You, Tydomin, a daughter of the despised sex, shall be my second.""The new law? But what is it?"
"Until eye sees, of what use it is for ear to hear? .. .. Come, both of you, to me!"Tydomin went to him unhesitatingly. Spadevil pressed his hand on her sorb and kept it there for a few minutes, while he closed his own eyes. When he removed it, Maskull observed that the sorb was transformed into twin membranes like Spadevil's own.
Tydomin looked dazed. She glanced quietly about for a little while, apparently testing her new faculty. Then the tears started to her eyes and, snatching up Spadevil's hand, she bent over and kissed it hurriedly many times.
'My past has been bad," she said. "Numbers have received harm from me, and none good. I have killed and worse. But now I can throw all that away, and laugh. Nothing can now injure me. Oh, Maskull, you and I have been fools together!""Don't you repent your crimes?" asked Maskull.
"Leave the past alone," said Spadevil. "it cannot be reshaped. The future alone is ours. it starts fresh and clean from this very minute. Why do you hesitate, Maskull? Are you afraid?""What is the name of, those organs, and what is their function?""They are probes, and they are the gates opening into a new world."Maskull lingered no longer, but permitted Spadevil to cover his sorb.
While the iron hand was still pressing his forehead, the new law quietly flowed into his consciousness, like a smooth-running stream of clean water which had hitherto been dammed by his obstructive will. The law was duty.