"I need an army and a fleet," Standish said. "Yet on all Lyra there
will not be sufficiently trained men to furnish either for a long time."
The girl stood there, idly plucking the petals of a flower. Abruptly
she turned.
"The Sirian prisoners! Even the private soldiers are equipped with
scientific knowledge. Why not use them?"
But Standish shook his head. "They would refuse. We could force them to
do physical work, of course. But that's all ... I ..."
"Listen." Excitement suddenly entered Thalia's voice. "In the
laboratories in the lower levels there is a machine built by the early
Lyrians long ago. No one understands its operation now. But its some
kind of an electro-hypnotic machine. Couldn't you use it on the Sirians
and make them _want_ to help us?"
A glitter in his eyes, Standish considered a moment, then leaped to his
feet.
"Let's have a look," he said.
They left the garden, crossed the square and entered the ancient tunnel
that led to the old laboratories. In the first level the Earthman
found nothing that answered the girl's description. But in a storage
room far back in the second tier he came upon two of the strange
machines, dust covered, in places red with rust.
Mounted on wheels, the instruments consisted of a small cart with twin
panels and a confusing array of dials. Above each machine was a helix
of tightly wound silver wire. At the bottom was a transparent globe
still half-filled with a thick greenish liquid.
"According to Ga-Marr," Thalia said, "these machines were used by the
early Sirians for medical purposes. They found in the principal of
applied hypnosis a cure for a great many ills."
Standish nodded. Without further word, he took up a small wrench and
removed the panel from one of the instruments, carefully examining the
revealed wiring.
"They seemed to be constructed for use on ordinary electric power. But
not the power supplied by Calthedra's dynamoes. I'll have to step up
the frequency."
He opened a wall switchboard and quickly connected two wires to the
machine. On a table he found a transformer. Thalia stood by in silence
while he hooked up wires, condensers, and a small loading coil.
Presently he looked up with a nod.
"We'll give her a try and see what happens."
"Stand over there in front of the helix," Standish said. "I don't
think there's any danger. Unless I'm wrong, the thing simply places
the patient in an electro magnetic field and transmits an alternating
vibration to the human brain."
He played with the dials a long time, twisted a rheostat experimentally.
"Notice anything?"
"Yes, I ..." The Earth girl's voice died off. A vacant look entered her
eyes. "What is your wish?" she asked suddenly.
Standish made a quick adjustment to the controls. "Sit down," he
commanded.
Obediently, Thalia moved across to a chair and sat stiffly erect.
"You have studied some mathematics," Standish said then. "Tell me, what
is the principal of the algebraic curve?"
Without hesitation Thalia replied, "A curve, the equation of which
contains no transcendental quantities; a figure the intercepted
diameters of which bear always the same proportion to their respective
ordinates."
Standish uttered a low cry of triumph and threw over the reverse lever
of the machine. An instant later Thalia stared at him in bewilderment.
"What happened?"
"It worked," Standish replied. "With that device and a hundred more
like it I will build, I can control every last Sirian prisoner. I can
make them help us build an entire fleet, using all their scientific
knowledge."
Thalia's eyes glowed. "We'll be fighting them with their own people,"
she said.