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"
The
Computers
would
have
no
Computing
to
do
,
Life
-
Plotters
no
lives
to
Plot
,
Sociologists
no
societies
to
profile
;
none
of
the
Specialists
would
have
anything
to
do
,
if
it
weren
’
t
for
the
Observer
.
I
know
you
’
ve
heard
this
said
before
,
but
I
want
you
to
be
very
firm
and
clear
in
your
mind
about
it
.
"
It
will
be
you
youngsters
who
will
go
out
into
Time
,
under
the
most
strenuous
conditions
,
to
bring
back
facts
.
Cold
,
objective
facts
uncolored
by
your
own
opinions
and
likings
,
you
understand
.
Facts
accurate
enough
to
be
fed
into
Computing
machines
.
Facts
definite
enough
to
make
the
social
equations
stand
up
.
Facts
honest
enough
to
form
a
basis
for
Reality
Changes
.
"
And
remember
this
,
too
.
Your
period
as
Observer
is
not
something
to
get
through
with
as
quickly
and
as
unobtrusively
as
possible
.
It
is
as
an
Observer
that
you
will
make
your
mark
.
Not
what
you
did
in
school
,
but
what
you
will
do
as
an
Observer
will
determine
your
Specialty
and
how
high
you
will
rise
in
it
.
This
will
be
your
post
-
graduate
course
,
Eternals
,
and
failure
in
it
,
even
small
failure
,
will
put
you
into
Maintenance
no
matter
how
brilliant
your
potentialities
now
seem
.
That
is
all
.
"
He
shook
hands
with
each
of
them
,
and
Harlan
,
grave
,
dedicated
,
proud
in
his
belief
that
the
privileges
of
being
an
Eternal
contained
its
greatest
privilege
in
the
assumption
of
responsibility
for
the
happiness
of
all
the
human
beings
who
were
or
ever
would
be
within
the
reach
of
Eternity
,
was
deep
in
self
-
awe
.
Harlan
’
s
first
assignments
were
small
and
under
close
direction
,
but
he
sharpened
his
ability
on
the
honing
strap
of
experience
in
a
dozen
Centuries
through
a
dozen
Reality
Changes
.
In
his
fifth
year
as
Observer
he
was
given
a
Senior
’
s
rating
in
the
field
and
assigned
to
the
482nd
.
For
the
first
time
he
would
be
working
unsupervised
,
and
knowledge
of
that
fact
robbed
him
of
some
of
his
self
-
assurance
when
he
first
reported
to
the
Computer
in
charge
of
the
Section
.
That
was
Assistant
Computer
Hobbe
Finge
,
whose
pursed
,
suspicious
mouth
and
frowning
eyes
seemed
ludicrous
in
such
a
face
as
his
.
He
had
a
round
button
of
a
nose
,
two
larger
buttons
of
cheeks
.
He
needed
only
a
touch
of
red
and
a
fringe
of
white
hair
to
be
converted
into
the
picture
of
the
Primitive
myth
of
St
.
Nicholas
.
(
-
or
Santa
Claus
or
Kriss
Kringle
.
Harlan
knew
all
three
names
.
He
doubted
if
one
Eternal
out
of
a
hundred
thousand
had
heard
of
any
one
of
them
.
Harlan
took
a
secret
,
shamefaced
pride
in
this
sort
of
arcane
knowledge
.
From
his
earliest
days
in
school
he
had
ridden
the
hobbyhorse
of
Primitive
history
,
and
Educator
Yarrow
had
encouraged
it
.
Harlan
had
grown
actually
fond
of
those
odd
,
perverted
Centuries
that
lay
,
not
only
before
the
beginning
of
Eternity
in
the
27th
,
but
even
before
the
invention
of
the
Temporal
Field
,
itself
,
in
the
24th
.
He
had
used
old
books
and
periodicals
in
his
studies
.
He
had
even
traveled
far
downwhen
to
the
earliest
Centuries
of
Eternity
,
when
he
could
get
permission
,
to
consult
better
sources
.
For
over
fifteen
years
he
had
managed
to
collect
a
remarkable
library
of
his
own
,
almost
all
in
print
-
on
-
paper
.
There
was
a
volume
by
a
man
called
H
.
G
.
Wells
,
another
by
a
man
named
W
.
Shakespeare
,
some
tattered
histories
.
Best
of
all
there
was
a
complete
set
of
bound
volumes
of
a
Primitive
news
weekly
that
took
up
inordinate
space
but
that
he
could
not
,
out
of
sentiment
,
bear
to
reduce
to
micro
-
film
.
