1 For it defies all the laws known to men.
2 We have broken the law, but we have never doubted it.
3 We had broken so many laws, and today we have broken one more.
4 We forget all men, all laws and all things save our metals and our wires.
5 We had broken a law, for we had not paid heed to the words of our Teachers.
6 The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so.
7 And we take no heed of the law which says that men may not think of women, save at the Time of Mating.
8 And they answered: "Since the Council does not know of this hole, there can be no law permitting to enter it."
9 The laws say that none among men may be alone, ever and at any time, for this is the great transgression and the root of all evil.
10 What punishment awaits us if it be discovered we know not, for no such crime has come in the memory of men and there are no laws to provide for it.
11 It makes the needle move and turn on the compass which we stole from the Home of the Scholars; but we had been taught, when still a child, that the loadstone points to the north and that this is a law which nothing can change; yet our new power defies all laws.
12 It makes the needle move and turn on the compass which we stole from the Home of the Scholars; but we had been taught, when still a child, that the loadstone points to the north and that this is a law which nothing can change; yet our new power defies all laws.