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mourns not for the end of the world but that "no one on Earth will live to know that I was right."
The characters seem to be drawn, if not from real life as in Asimov's first mystery novel, The Death Dealers (1958), at least from observation and combination of characteristics. In Hallam's reaction to Lamont's suggestion about para-men superiority, the reader might sense a hint of John Campbell's reaction to the possibility of alien superiority in the stories presented to him, some of which were by Asimov himself.
Part II, titled ". . . The Gods Themselves . . . ," as another piece clicked into place, is concerned with the para-men and the para-Universe. Like much that Asimov had done in the second half of his career (the novelization of Fantastic Voyage, The Sensuous Dirty Old Man, Murder at the ABA), Part II was the result of a challenge. Some of the challenges had been posed by others; some, by Asimov himself.
A paperback house had expressed interest in the novel after seeing Part I. The editor asked Ashmead, "Will Asimov be putting sex into the book?" Ashmead responded, "No!" When Ashmead reported the conversation to Asimov, Asimov
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felt contrary enough to want to put sex into the book. I rarely had sex in my stories and I rarely had extraterrestrial creatures in them, either, and I knew there were not lacking those who thought that I did not include them because I lacked the imagination for it.
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I determined, therefore, to work up the best extraterrestrials that had ever been seen for the second part of my novel.
The extraterrestrials are among the most fascinating and believable aliens yet imagined in science fiction. Part II also is concerned almost entirely with sex. That it is alien sex must have made it all the more enjoyable for Asimov.
The planet on which the para-men exist in the para-Universe is a barren, rocky place orbiting, as scientists in Part I speculate, around a small, dim sun. The para-people find it congenial, though not as congenial as it once was. Their Universe, which burns its suns more rapidly because of the ease of the fusion reaction, is running down. The para-people are energy-eaters. They "eat" by walking or basking in the sunshine. They also spend much of their time involved with sex or family.
They are not quite gods. They are nebulous creatures, more like ghosts. As infants they can melt into each other, or even into rocks, and one sex retains the ability to melt throughout its lifetime; in fact, their

 
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