It had been fruitless, he thought. He didn't know what Dreyer had
expected of their diversionary visit among these people, but as far as
Underwood could see it had accomplished nothing. He had become rather
attracted to Jandro, however, in their few hours together, recognizing
in him something of the same rebellion against the conventions of
his world that Underwood felt on Earth. Perhaps, on the trip to the
Dragboran planet, they could become acquainted.
Jandro led them from the chamber. "You must see the mother-flesh. It
will only take a few moments. It has never once died, and now is far
older than our historical records."
The Earthmen followed through the winding corridors again to a door
that opened only after a complicated code system, and then by being
drawn wholly inward. As they walked through the opening, they observed
the walls were nearly four feet thick, of solid glass of a lead-gray
hue.
"The protection is necessary to guard the mother-flesh against natural
disturbances and the occasional unfortunates among us whose will is to
destroy. No force of which we are aware could penetrate the barrier."
Underwood's interest was aroused concerning the nature of this
mysterious mother-flesh. He suspected the meaning of the name, but the
nature of the substance was impossible to guess at.
The room into which they came was very large and equipped as a
laboratory, with wooden and glass instruments on every side.
The central feature of the room, however, was a large, dome-covered
container about twenty feet in diameter. Inside it, rising about
halfway to the top, was a shapeless mass of flesh, grayish for the most
part, but shot through with livid streaks of red. It pulsed as if some
quiescent, sleeping life possessed it.
"This is our mother-flesh," said Jandro.
Illia shuddered faintly at the sight. "It looks almost like an enormous
cancer," she said.
They peered into the vat, the base of the mound of flesh being hidden
by a thick, soupy liquid.
A technician approached as they neared the dome. He carried a
long-handled instrument which he had just removed from a sterilizer. As
they watched, he opened a port in the dome and thrust the instrument
quickly into the mound of flesh and turned it. The mass quivered and
recoiled, but the instrument withdrew, holding a core from deep within
the mass. Slowly, the wound closed and the thick, dark blood ceased
flowing.
* * * * *
The technician dropped the core into a container and carried it across
the room to one of several hundred cagelike units about a foot square.
"There you see it," said Jandro. "The primeval flesh is cut out and
placed within its forming box where surgical manipulation and radiation
will cause the formation of the specialized cells that will turn it
into one of the three _abasa_."
"I'd swear that is cancerous tissue," said Illia. "Whatever the purpose
of these strange organs developed from it, it may be that these
people have succeeded in perfecting the mutation that nature has been
struggling with on Earth for thousands of generations."
"But what could be the purpose of it?" Underwood demanded. "What
abilities do these organs give that we do not already possess? I don't
see any evidence in Jandro nor did I see any in Demarzule, showing the
results of these organs."
"Who knows?" said Dreyer. "But I believe Illia may be right. Among us,
cancerous formation has all the appearance of a mutation gone wild, yet
it seems to be one that nature insists on. Perhaps with Jandro aboard
the ship we can find out what these organs do."
They returned to Jandro's house. There Jandro bade good-by to his
mother and his sister. They seemed curiously unmoved by what must be an
event of tremendous significance in their history, Underwood thought.
Jandro mounted behind Underwood on the scooter. They rose high in the
air and set a straight course for the spot where the _Lavoisier_ lay.
Jandro gave no outward sign that such flight was unusual for him.
Within a few minutes they spotted the ship, and groups of the crew
gathered outside, some at a distance of a mile or two. They circled and
landed, returned the scooters to the locks.
Mason came up as if greatly relieved to see them. "The men are anxious
to be on the way," he said. "The fleet of Demarzule is definitely
returning to Earth, even more rapidly than they came here. There
appears to be no more reason for delay."
Underwood went to the control room to check the observations. Before
his eyes the mighty fleet was melting into the depths of space toward
Earth. He checked their velocity, and frowned. What purpose was there
in this sudden retreat? Did it signify a trap that had been prepared
for the scientists on the Dragboran planet?
There was no way of knowing--and no way of combating the unknown.