His mind came surging slowly back up from the dark depths of nightmare.
His head ached unbearably. He had thought an insistent, warning voice
was crying out at him. He opened his eyes. This was no nightmare, for
memory came back in a rushing flood, and he still heard the voice, low
and warning and very close to his ear.
"Do not move, Jim Landor. Do not say anything, just listen. This is
Kaarji, I am here close by you."
Kaarji! Jim had almost forgotten about Kaarji. Then he took the warning
and tried not even to think, he just listened, in a detached manner.
"We are in a room off the corridor. That Dim-Ing thing is only a few
hundred feet away. I hope it has not contacted your mind again, for I
have something important to tell you. It is a good thing you followed
me here so closely, for the Dim-Ing withdrew its concentration from me
and centered it on you. Thus I was able to slip past this place, and I
explored a little. Jim Landor, below these corridors I have discovered
a huge room full of machinery. I cannot understand it all, for I have
not a scientific mind; but I thought if we could escape from here, and
I could take you to this place--"
Slowly, Jim allowed his mind to relax. He felt no more of the probing
mental fingers in his brain.
"It's all right, Kaarji, we can speak freely now. I suppose that's
where Bhruulo caught you, in that secret room?"
"Yes. It seems to be his living quarters as well."
"I think I know what that machinery is, Kaarji. It's vital to the
existence of M'Tonak. If only we can get back there--"
Jim rose to his feet and looked about the room. It was small and empty,
the walls were of marble. He walked over to the single door leading to
the corridor. He tried it, and to his surprise it opened easily!
* * * * *
But he staggered back as from a violent physical blow, as the
radiations from the Dim-Ing lashed against him.
"Hum, our little playmate again." Jim rubbed his half-blinded eyes.
"Clever devil, that Bhruulo. He knows that no man could escape
through _that_. He was so sure of it that he didn't even remove my
electro-pistol from me."
As the pain passed from his eyes, he removed his pistol and felt the
comfortable weight of it in his hand; but he thrust it back into his
belt again, knowing it was useless against the Dim-Ing. Then an idea
struck him like a thunderbolt.
"Kaarji, we may walk from this room yet! I have one weapon that Bhruulo
hasn't counted on, and that is--the Dim-Ing's hatred of Bhruulo!"
Hurrying to the door again, he opened it infinitesimally. And he
leaped back to the furthermost confines of the room as the Dim-Ing's
thought-emanations came flooding inside, in a gentle greenish haze.
Jim centered all of his mind, now, on the one all-important thought.
"Bhruulo! I shall kill him! He thinks he will keep me here and feed
my mind to the Dim-Ing--but somehow I'll escape from here and kill
Bhruulo. I swear it!" He strove to arouse an overwhelming hatred in his
mind for the ages-old little Martian.
The Dim-Ing's power surged anew.
He felt the alien entity's mental fingers grab hold of his mind again.
He stifled the rising exultance and reiterated his resolution to
kill Bhruulo. Now he noticed that the Dim-Ing's mental presence was
expanding through the very marble walls themselves. As never before,
he began to appreciate the potential power of the thing. But with an
effort he repeated his oath to kill Bhruulo; it became now not so much
an oath as a promise, for he knew the Dim-Ing had tightly grasped his
mind and was listening.
It was easy. So ridiculously easy that Jim should have been suspicious,
but was not.
"If you mean it," the Dim-Ing spoke to Jim's mind at last. "If I
thought you really would--"
"I mean it!" Jim flashed the thought fervently. "Let me out of here and
I will rid you of Bhruulo, once and for all!"
He almost laughed aloud.
Slowly, hesitantly the thing's mental barrier was fading away. Jim
stepped to the door and opened it widely. Nothing beat him back now.
He motioned to Kaarji, who followed him almost frightenedly out into
the corridor. There the mental power of the Dim-Ing was a little more
in evidence, but not enough to stop them. It was as though it were
watching....
"This way," Kaarji breathed at last. He led Jim in the opposite
direction from the Dim-Ing, then into a cross-corridor that extended
interminably. At last they reached a door that opened onto stone steps
leading downward.
"Careful," Kaarji warned as he led the way slowly.
He didn't need to warn Jim. The latter was wary as never before, and he
kept a hand always near his electro-pistol. Something was vaguely wrong
about all this but he didn't know what. For one thing it seemed too
easy.
At the bottom of the steps was another sliding door. Kaarji paused
before it and whispered, "This is the room!"
* * * * *
Jim stood still, listening. There was no sound from beyond that door.
The silence was a vast womb about them, menacing. Jim slid the door
noiselessly open; they stepped inside and stared around.
They saw huge circling tiers of peculiarly constructed dynamos. They
were in operation, Jim knew that, for he could feel a certain surge of
power even though there was no sound. A bewildering network of cables
led from the dynamos to a central, predominating machine that towered
fan-like above them all. It was this electronic tower, he knew, that
created the swirling pillars of strength that surged upward and outward
to support the vast cavern roof overhead.
Then they saw Bhruulo. He was in a little glassite room at the foot of
the electronic tower. Tiny wheels and dials were banked around him, and
he was busy making delicate adjustments. So busy that he didn't see
them standing just inside the door.
Now Jim heard the insistent voice of the Dim-Ing in his mind again:
"Kill him! Do it at once! Do as you promised...."
Jim didn't need the prompting voice, but he wasn't going to ray a man
down from behind; besides, he doubted if his beam would penetrate that
glassite cage. He stepped quickly to one of the dynamo stanchions, and
drew Kaarji down beside him.
He waited, despite the Dim-Ing's impatience that he could feel seething
within him. Bhruulo finished his adjustments at last, and stepped out
of the cage. He was still a good fifty feet from Jim. He turned, to go
deeper into the maze of machinery.