It is hardly necessary for me to say that I do not believe in the supernatural; everything that happened has a perfectly rational explanation, obviou… - Arthur C. Clarke

So this, thought Jan, with a resignation that lay beyond all sadness, was the end of man. It was an end that no prophet had foreseen – an end that repudiated optimism and pessimism alike.

Yet it was fitting: it had the sublime inevitability of a great work of art. Jan had glimpsed the universe in all its immensity, and knew now that it was no place for man. He realized at last how vain, in the ultimate analysis, had been the dream that lured him to the stars.

For the road to the stars was a road that forked in two directions, and neither led to a goal that took any account of human hopes or fears.

The time was fast approaching when Earth, like all mothers, must say farewell to her children.

But at least we have answered one ancient question. We are not alone. The stars will never again be the same to us.