HILTON did not have to drive the peyondix-beam to the Strett; it was already there. And there was the First Lord Thinker Zoyar.
Into that mind his multi-mind flashed, its every as to his will as his own fingers—almost more so, in fact, of the lengths of time to send along nerves.
That mind was by cell. Then, after what like a hours, when a to form, Hilton transferred his to the mind of the Second Thinker, one Lord Ynos, and she knew. Then, the minds of all the other Thinkers being screened, he the whole Strett planet, by foot, and that was on it.
Then, mission accomplished, Hilton his attention to his office and the multi-mind apart. As he opened his he Tuly scream: "... Luck!"
"Oh—you still here, Tuly? How long have we been gone?"
"Approximately one and one-tenth seconds, sir."
"WHAT!"
Beverly Bell, in the of Franklin Poynter's arms, quietly. Sandra piercingly. The four men stared, goggle-eyed. Temple and Teddy, as though by common thought, their into shoulders.
Hilton first. "So that's what is."
"Yes, sir—I no, sir. No, I yes, but ..." Tuly paused, her in that human-female of uncertainty.
"Well, what do you mean? It either is or isn't. Or is that necessarily so?"
"Not exactly, sir. That is, it started as peyondix. But it something else. Not the most powerful of the old Masters—nobody—ever did or possibly such a as that. Or it so fast."
"Well, with seven of the best minds of Terra and a ..."
"Chip-chop the chit-chat!" Karns said, harshly. "What I want to know is I was having a nightmare. Can there possibly be a such as I I saw? So savage—ruthless—merciless! So of every and so hell-bent on the of every other in the Galaxy? God it, it doesn't make sense!"
EYES from to to eyes.
All had the same horrible, atrocious, things. Qualities and and and that no in any language to portray.
"It doesn't to, but there it is." Teddy Blake her hopelessly.
Big Bill Karns, hands still shaking, a cigarette he spoke again. "Well, I've been a of genocide. But it's my opinion that the Stretts are one the can along without."
"A of a without," Poynter said, and all agreed.
"The point is, what can we do about it?" Kincaid asked. "The thing, I would say, is to see we can do this—whatever it is—without Tuly's help. Shall we try it? Although I, for one, don't like doing it right away."
"Not I, either." Beverly Bell up her right hand, which was uncontrollably. "I as though I'd been waves, wind and for forty-eight hours without food, water or touch. Maybe in about a week I'll be for another try at it. But today—not a chance!"
"Okay. Scat, all of you," Hilton ordered. "Take the of the day off and up. Put on your thought-screens and don't take them off for a second from now on. Those Stretts are hombres."
Sandra was the last to leave. "And you, boss?" she asked pointedly.
"I've got some to do."
"I'll and help you think?"
"Not yet." He his head, and then grinned. "You see, chick, I don't know yet what it is I'm going to have to think about."
"A unclear, but I know what you mean—I think. Luck, chief."
IN their turn on Strett, two of the of that were in thought.
"My mind has been plundered, Ynos," First Lord Thinker Zoyar radiated, harshly. "Despite the high of my some information—I do not know how much—was taken. The was one of the of that ship."
"I, too, a at my mind. But those not peyondire, First Lord."
"Be logical, fool! At that contact, in the of which you in not up continuously, they succeeded in their from you."
"That be the truth. Our erred, then, in that all those weak and had been slain. These are their descendants, returning to their world."
"The must be and considered. Was it or was it not through that the Omans most of our task-force?"
"Highly probable, but of with the data now available."
"Obtain more data at once. That point must be and shall be and considered. This entire is intolerable. It must be abated."
"True, First Lord. But every and operation is now screened. Oh, if I only go out there myself ..."
"Hold, fool! Your is and un-Strettly."
"True, oh First Lord Thinker Zoyar. I will remove my self from this plane of existence."
"You will not! I that custom. Our numbers are too by far. Too many have failed to adapt. Also, as Second Thinker, your death at this time would be to now in work. I will myself, however, the unfit. To that end repeat The Words under my peyondiring."
"I am a Strett. I will my every of and of physical to the Great Plan. I am, and will remain, a Strett."
"You do in The Words."
"OF I in them! I know that in a more hundreds of thousands of years we will be of material and will and invulnerable. Then comes the Conquest of the Galaxy ... and then the Conquest of the Universe!"
"No more, then, on your life, of this weak and repining! Now, what of your thinking?"
"Programming must be such as to time-lag. We must the already mentioned and many others, such as the of the which was to have been so long ago. After having all these evaluations, I will a Minor Plan to these Omans, we have permitted to on sufferance, and with them that of humans."
"That is well." Zoyar's mind with a for any mind to grasp. "And to that end?"
"To that end we must still more our program of data. We must our in the light of our every the many thousands of since the last such was made. Our every of power, of and of defense, must be up to the of capability."
"And as to the Great Brain?"
"I have been able to think of nothing, First Lord, to add to the you have already set forth."
"It was not that you would. Now: is it your final that these are in the of those of so long ago?"
"It is."
"It is also mine. I return, then, to my work upon the Brain. You will take are necessary. Use every of and of and our every resource. But this nuisance, and soon."
"It shall be done, First Lord."
THE Second Thinker orders. Frenzied, round-the-clock activity ensued. Hundreds of upon the of hundreds of others, who in turn upon the operators.
Then, all those with the of many thousands of years, the hundreds to work. Thousands of work-mechs were and put to work at the of larger and more powerful space-craft.
As has been implied, those battle-skeletons of the Stretts were by their own built-in brains, which were for only the of maneuvers. Anything at all out of the ordinary had to be by control, by the specialist-mechs at their two-miles-long board.
This was now to be changed. Programming was to be so complete that almost any be by the or the itself—instantly.
The Stretts that they were the most powerful, the most in the universe. Their science was the in the universe. Hence, with every unit up to the full possibilities of that science, that would be more than enough. Period.
This work, while it much time, was very much than the which the First Thinker had out for himself on the computer-plus which the Stretts called "The Great Brain." In his project, First Lord Zoyar had said:
"Assignment: To a machine that will have the abilities: One, to and all knowledge and into it, great the amount. Two, to itself additional by all planets, situate, life. Three, to call up any and all of to any problem we may give it. Four, to and any number of to new concepts. Five, to theories, test them and helpful to us in any in work."
It will have been noticed that these in one respect from those of the Eniacs and Univacs of Earth. Since we of Earth can not peyondire, we do not that ability from our computers.
The Stretts could, and did.
WHEN Sandra came into the office at five o'clock she Hilton still there, in almost the same position.
"Come out of it, Jarve!" She a finger. "That much of that is just too much."
"You're so right, child." He got up, stretched, and by main off his mood. "But we're up against something that is a something, and I don't perchance."
"How well I know it." She put an arm around him, gave him a quick, hard hug. "But after all, you don't have to solve it this evening, you know."
"No, thank God."
"So why don't you and Temple have supper with me? Or yet, why don't all eight of us have supper together in that bachelors' of yours and Bill's?"
"That'd be fun."
And it was.
Nor did it take a week for Beverly Bell to from the Ordeal of Eight. On the evening, she herself that the team should take another at that of the mind, though it had been.
"But are you sure you can take it again so soon?" Hilton asked.
"Sure. I'm like that famous gangster's moll, you know, who easy but quick. And I want to know about it as much as anyone else does."
They do it this time without any help from Tuly. The together and to a point. Hilton of Terra and there it was; full size, yet only one of a point. The multi-mind visited relatives of all eight, but not make contact. If asleep, it dreams; if awake, of the loved one so away in space; but that was all. It visited mediums, in and otherwise—many of whom, not now, were genuine—with it conversations. Even in linkage, however, the multi-mind that none of the would be believed, if they all told, simultaneously, the same story. The multi-mind and Hilton it to Ardry.
Beverly was almost in collapse. The other girls were white, and trembling. Hilton himself, and as he was, as though he had done two of hard labor on a rock-pile. He at Larry.
"Point six three eight seconds, sir," the Omans said, up a timer.
"How do you that?" Karns demanded.
"I'm it means that without Oman we're out of luck."
HILTON had other ideas, but he did not voice any of them until the day, when he was rested and had Larry alone.
"So carbon-based can't take it. One second of that would have killed all eight of us. Why? The Masters had the same of we have."
"I don't know, sir. It's something new. No Master, or group of Masters, such a as that. I can such power possible, though I have it twice. It may be that over the your powers, or controlled, have so that no can them in fusion."
"And none of us anything about any of them. I've been doing a of thinking. The Masters had and now unknown to any of us. How come? You Omans—and the Stretts, too—think we're of the Masters. Maybe we are. You think they came originally from Arth—Earth or Terra—to Ardu. That'd account for our of Mu, Atlantis and so on. Since Ardu was range of Strett, the Stretts it. They killed all the Masters, they thought, and the for any of life, their own. But one of Masters and came here to Ardry—far range. They here for a long time. Then, for some or other—which may be in their records—they left here, to come back. Do any of you Omans know why they left? Or where they went?"
"No, sir. We can read only the of the Masters' records. They our that way, sir."
"I know. They're the type. However, I now that your is reversed. Let's turn it around. Say the Masters didn't come from Terra, but from some other planet. Say that they left here they were out. They were, weren't they?"
"Yes, sir. Their numbers and each century."
"I was sure of it. They were suicide by you Omans do they themselves should have been doing. Finally they saw the truth. In a to save their they out, you here. Probably they to come when they had into themselves to set you Omans where you belong...."
"But they were always the Masters, sir!"
"They were not! They were enslaved. Think it over. Anyway, say they to Terra from here. That still for the and so on. However, they were too gone to make a recovery, and yet they had of purpose not to any of you Omans there. So their a long way the they to work up. Does that make to you?"
"IT many things, sir. It can very well be the truth."
"Okay. However it was, we're here, and a condition that isn't funny. While we were up I learned a lot, but not nearly enough. Am I right in that I now don't need the other seven at all—that my are and I can go it alone?"
"Probably, sir, but ..."
"I'm to that. Every time I do it—up to maximum performance, of course—it comes and and harder. So next time, or maybe the fourth or time, it'll kill me. And the other seven, too, if they're along."
"I'm not sure, sir, but I think so."
"Nice. Very, very nice." Hilton got up, hands into his pockets, and about the room. "But can't the be controlled? Choked—throttled down—damped—muzzled, some way or other?"
"We do not know of any way, sir. The Masters were always toward more power, not less."
"That makes sense. The more power the better, as long as you can it. But I can't this. And neither can the team. So how about another team, one that hasn't got so much whammo? Enough to do the job, but not to that way?"
"It is that such a team is possible, sir." If an Oman be embarrassed, Larry was. "That is, sir ... I should tell you, sir ..."
"You should. You've been all along, and now you're stalled. Spill it."
"Yes, sir. The Tuly me not to mention it, but I must. When it your team it had no idea of what it was going to do...."
"Let's talk the same language, shall we? Say 'he' and 'she.' Not 'it.'"
"She she was setting up the peyondix, the same as all of us Omans have. But after she in your mind the matrix, your mind on of itself to a something else; a thing we can not understand. That was why she was so ... I think 'frightened' might be your term."
"I something was her. Why?"
"Because it very nearly killed you. You have not the upon us all if any Oman, unintentionally, should kill a Master?"
"No, I hadn't ... I see. So she won't play with fire any more, and none of the of you can?"
"Yes, sir. Nothing her to. If she be so we would her brain she act. That brain, as you know, is imperfect, or she not have done what she did. It should have been long since."
"Don't act on that assumption, Larry." Hilton for minutes. "Simple peyondix, such as yours, is not to read the Masters' records. If I'd had three brain I'd've them then. I wonder if I read them?"
"You have all the old Masters' powers and more. But you must not them again, sir. It would death."
"But I've got to know.... I've got to know! Anyway, a thousandth of a second would be enough. I don't think that'd me very much."
HE concentrated—read a of top-secret wire—and came to in the of the Perseus, with two doctors on him; Hastings, the top Navy medico, and Flandres, the surgeon.
"What the to you?" Flandres demanded. "Were you trying to kill yourself?"
"And if so, how?" Hastings wanted to know.
"No, I was trying not to," Hilton said, weakly, "and I I didn't much more than succeed."
"That was just about the I saw a man come through. Whatever it was, don't do it again."
"I won't," he promised, feelingly.
When they let him out of the hospital, four days later, he called in Larry and Tuly.
"The next time would be the last time. So there won't be any," he told them. "But just how sure are you that some other of our boys or girls may not have just of it takes to do the job? Enough oompa, but not too much?"
"Since we, too, are on ground the is small. We have been making inquiries, however, and scanning. You were from all the minds of Terra as the one having the vision, the scope, the most grasp. The at and and so on."
"That's it in big letters, but that was more or less what they were after."
"Hence the that any more such as this Tuly did well result almost in failure and death. Therefore we can not and will not again."
"YOU'VE got a point there.... So what I am is some of a freak. Maybe a of super-Master and maybe something different. Maybe in a less fashion, and maybe not. Veree helpful—I don't think. But I don't want to kill anybody, either ... if it wouldn't do any good. But we've got to do something!" Hilton in for minutes. "But an Oman brain take it. As you told us, Tuly, 'The brain of the Larry is very, very tough.'"
"In a way, sir. Except that the Masters were very to make it physically for any Oman to go very along that line. It was only their of my one brain that me, alone of us all, to do that wrong."
"Stop it was wrong, Tuly. I'm you did. But I wasn't of any regular Oman brain...." Hilton's voice out.
"I see, sir. Yes, we can, by using your brain as Guide, it in an Oman body. You would then have the powers and most of the of ..."
"No, you don't see, I've got my screen on. Which I will now take off—" he action to word—"since the whole planet's screened and I have nothing to from you. Teddy Blake and I of that, but we'll it only as the last resort. We don't want to live a years. And we want our to keep on developing. But you can replace carbon-based with silicon-based ones just as easily as, and a of a than, water wood. What can you do along the line of me that way? And if you can do any such conversion, what would happen? Would I live at all? And if so, how long? How would I live? What would I live on? All that of stuff."
"Shortly they left, two of the Masters did some work on that very thing. Tuly and I them, sir."
"Fine—or is it? How did it work out?"
"Perfectly, sir ... that they themselves. It was that they of existence."
"I don't wonder. Well, if it comes to that, I can do the same. You can me, then."
"Yes, sir. But we do it we must do work to be sure that you will not be in any way. Also, there will be many more than substitution."
"Of course. I that. Just see what you can do, please, and let me know."
"We will, sir, and thank you very much."
