“Oh, so do I! I think you should take the course all the time,” I said, suddenly realizing how wonderful that would be. “I don’t mean teach it, though maybe you could, later, if you wanted to, but I think if you stay, you should always be around some of the time when the kids are taking the course. For one thing, there isn’t a sixteen-year-old on this planet who wouldn’t love being on that course with you to shake things up. But the real reason is that we have a tendency to become—well, Jathery said it yesterday about me. Piously Platonic. We accept it too much as received wisdom and we don’t question enough. All of this has made me see that. If you were around the young people they wouldn’t get complacent.”

“You’re asking me to corrupt your youth?” Sokrates asked. “You know I have a conviction for that at home?”

We all laughed. “Yes, you’re perfectly qualified, and it’s precisely the kind of corruption we need for our youth,” I said.

“I have made a committment to join this pod,” Sokrates said, smiling. “I’d also like to explore the other cities, and indeed the other worlds. But I’m an old man. Don’t count on me being around to help with these things long-term.”

He was hale and fit, but definitely an old man. “The space humans were talking about possibilities of medical and technological rejuvenation,” I said, remembering what had been said in the morning’s meeting.

As I spoke, I looked at Hilfa again, and I realized he hadn’t spoken since Jathery left us.

“Are you all right, Hilfa?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, in that flat way he had. The pink marks on his skin were the brightest I’d ever seen them. “I am free. I belong to Plato. And I have helped free all the Saeli here. I am very all right.”

“What did gla say to you?” Jason asked.

“It’s hard to translate,” Hilfa said. “Gla said gla could have reunited me with gla, and that he wished me joy of my folly. And then gla said that Our Parent wants us to learn and experience and comprehend new things.”

“What?” Sokrates asked, completely focused on Hilfa now, not a shred of amusement left in his face. “Do you mean to say gla told you what Zeus wants? The purpose of life, spat at you like a curse? Gods! They’re not fit to be entrusted with their responsibilities. They’re like a bunch of heavily armed toddlers.”

“Can that really be the purpose of life?” I asked.

“We can’t trust gla,” Thetis said, decisively.

“Even if we could trust what gla said, is that for Hilfa alone, all the Saeli, our pod, or for everyone?” Sokrates asked.