《Let There be Darkness》中的设定的收集（1）(4)

（Galactic是一个机械种族或一个由金属生物组成的种族，Galactic负责监督整个银河系，从某种意义上来说Galactic是银河系的统治者。）
2. It seemed miraculous to Taggart that he had been one of the two humans chosen by the Zarr to represent his own kind. The fact that all the representatives of every race had been male (where sexuality was a factor) was less miraculous. Taggart knew that the Zarr, during their two million years of recorded history, had reduced the females of their originally bisexual species to mere gastroid organisms kept alive in their laboratories by artificial means, to be used as necessary to keep the race in existence. Since each Zarrian had a life-span of nearly two thousand years, and could command a great number of artificial metal subordinates, biological reproduction was at a minimum, and the population of living entities governing an entire galactic empire was only slightly larger than the human population of Earth. Moreover, variation of personal characteristics was at a minimum among members of the Zarrian race, so that it was hard for Taggart to distinguish individuals; this undoubtedly made for great efficiency in the attainment of the unquestioned Zarrian goals -- conquest, and the never-ending expansion of the empire of the Zarr throughout limitless space. Evidently all softer impulses -- if any such had ever existed in the Zarrian race -- had long ago been subordinated to the desire for universal dominion and the expansion of their power. . . .