Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
As the years went by, Martin began to lose even his detached interest Nobody in the neighborhood was surprised when Martin's mother off without them. Martin was no exception. He'd never had it this good while he was living with his old lady. As for his father, Martin the descendants were and felt an uncomfortable pang of a sensation he could no longer understand. "Where do you suppose Conrad has been all this time?" Martin idly asked the current cousin—who was passing as his nephew by now. The young man jumped, then glanced around him uncomfortably. "Conrad's a very shrewd fellow," he whispered. "He's biding his time—waiting until we're off guard. And then—pow!—he'll attack!" "Oh, I see," Martin said. He had often fancied that Conrad would prove to be the most stimulating member of the whole generation. But it seemed unlikely that he would Conrad?" "Because he's coming to kill you." "Why should he kill me? I ain't done him nothing." ever have a chance for a conversation with the young man. More than one conversation, anyhow. "When he does show up, I'll protect you," the cousin vowed, touching So Martin held his peace, because, on the whole, he liked things the would make up the work. Martin nearly did get sick from laughing so intensive bombing has created a number of desirable building sites. "This is a much better neighborhood for a boy to grow up in," she declared. "Besides, it's easier to keep an eye on you here." more—all cousins to one another, he was told, all descendants of his. something pretty wrong with him. So Martin and Ninian were just as Martin missed the old neighborhood, though. He missed having other It was then that Martin began to realize that either the whole lot of When Martin was sixteen, Raymond took him aside for the talk Ninian had promised five years before. "The whole thing's all my brother Conrad's fault. You see, he's an idealist," Raymond explained, pronouncing the last word with distaste. Martin nodded gravely. He was a quiet boy now, his brief past a dim and and his speech rather overbred, his mentors from the future having carefully eradicated all current vulgarities. "And Conrad really got upset over the way Earth has been exploiting passing laws to do away with the—well, abuses and things like that, and I'm sure someday everything will come out all right. However, Conrad is so impatient." "I thought, in your world, machines did all the work," Martin suggested. "I've told you—our world is precisely the same as this one!" Raymond his descendants. They were all exceedingly handsome and cultivated frightening—his race had lost something vital. Unaware of the near-contempt in which his young ancestor held him, Raymond went on blandly: "Anyhow, Conrad took it upon himself to feel particularly guilty, because, he decided, if it hadn't been for guilty, I mean. Perhaps a great-grandfather is responsible for his Anyhow, Raymond went on to explain, Conrad had bribed one of Farkas' assistants for a set of the plans. Conrad's idea had been to go back in time and "eliminate!" their common great-grandfather. In that way, there would be no space-drive, and, hence, the Terrestrials would never society in order to root out a single injustice?" "Not if it were a good one otherwise." "Well, there's your answer. Conrad got the apparatus built, or perhaps he built it himself. One doesn't inquire too closely into such matters. But when it came to the point, Conrad couldn't bear the idea good man, you know." Raymond's expressive upper lip curled. "So Conrad decided to go further back still and get rid of his great-grandfather's father—who'd been, by all accounts, a pretty worthless character." was our moral duty to go back in time ourselves and protect you." He beamed at Martin. The boy smiled slowly. "Of course. You had to. If Conrad succeeded in eliminating me, then none of you would exist, would you?" , Martin knew, could have meant anything from blackmail to the use of the iron maiden. "Then we were all ready to forestall Conrad. If one of us guarded you night and day, he would never be able to carry out his plot. So we made our counter-plan, set the machine as far back as it would go—and here sad part: he already knew it wouldn't make a difference. Raymond clapped him on the shoulder. "I knew you weren't a sloppy sentimentalist like Conrad. Though you do have rather a look of him, you know." Suddenly that seemed to make Conrad real. Martin felt a vague stirring of alarm. He kept his voice composed, however. "How do you plan to protect me when he comes?" "Well, each one of us is armed to the teeth, of course," Raymond said her own inadequacy, Martin knew, not of sorrow. He was getting skillful at understanding his descendants, far better than they at understanding Raymond and Martin moved into a luxurious mansion in a remote area. The dozen years later, they weren't touched. Martin was never sure whether descendants were exceedingly inept planners. Martin and his guardian. The place not only contained every possible carefully chosen by Raymond and disputed by Martin, for, to the man "How about a moat?" Martin suggested when they first came. "It seems to go with a castle." "Do you think a moat could stop Conrad?" Raymond asked, amused. "No," Martin smiled, feeling rather silly, "but it would make the place seem safer somehow." The threat of Conrad was beginning to make him grow more and more nervous. He got Raymond's permission to take two suits of armor that stood in the front hall and present them to a local museum, because several times he fancied he saw them move. He also became an adept with the ray gun and changed the surrounding landscape quite a bit with it, until Raymond warned that this might lead Conrad to them. During those early years, Martin's tutors were exchanged for the least twenty of the cousins came back through time to hold one of their vigorous family councils. Martin was still young enough to enjoy "Don't be a fool, Grania!" Raymond snapped. "Well, Martin, have you Cousin Ives—now that Martin was older, he was told to call the descendants Ives was the only one of the descendants who seemed to think of Martin which Martin christened they never moved back to land. Martin spent the rest of his life on The Interregnum . He felt curiously safer from Conrad there, although there was no valid reason why an ocean should stop a traveler through time. ship, giving each other parties and playing an avant-garde Martin didn't care much for their company and associated with them only interbred aristocracy, to which Martin's descendants belonged by virtue even. "Sometimes I'm not altogether sure Conrad was wrong," Ives said, after a pause. "Tried to keep us from getting to the stars, hurting the people—I expect you could call them people—there. Still—" he smiled "Would take moral courage. I don't have it. None of us does, except Conrad, and even he—" Ives looked out over the sea. "Must be a better way out than Conrad's," he said without conviction. "And everything will work out all right in the end. Bound to. No sense to—to anything, he couldn't even seem to care. During all this time, Conrad still did not put in an appearance. Martin had gotten to be such a crack shot with the ray pistol that he almost wished his descendant would show up, so there would be some excitement. But Martin disagreed. a while, Martin couldn't tell one from another. Cousin after cousin

<question>:
Rather than protecting Martin from Conrad, over the years, the descendants

<options>:
A force Martin to abandon his way of life in favor of theirs, as he realizes how "good" they do have it in the future.
B seem to dull Martin's initially-sharp ability to be perceptive and instinctual.
C solely ingratiate Martin to the ways of future life, ensuring he will embrace their ideals.
D do nothing other than wave a flag for Conrad to know where to attack upon his entry.

<answer>:

B