"Kayle! I guess you've got a recorder on the line. I'll give you the details of the transmitter circuits. It's complicated, but fifteen minutes ought to—"
"No time," Kayle cut in. "I'm sorry about everything, Granthan. If you've finished the machine, it's a tragedy for humanity—if it works. I can only ask you to try—when the Gool command comes—not to give them what they want. I'll tell you, now, Granthan. The bomb blows in—" there was a pause—"two minutes and twenty-one seconds. Try to hold them off. If you can stand against them for that long at least—"
I slammed the phone down, cold sweat popping out across my face. Two minutes ... too late for anything. The men in the War Room would never know how close I had come to beating the Gool—and them.
But I could still save the Master Tape. I wrestled1 the yellow plastic case that housed the tape onto the table, into the machine.
And the world vanished in a blaze of darkness, a clamor of silence.
NOW, MASTERS! NOW! LINK UP! LINK UP!
Like a bad dream coming back in daylight, I felt the obscene presence of massed Gool minds, attenuated2 by distance but terrible in their power, probing, thrusting. I fought back, struggling against paralysis3, trying to gather my strength, use what I had learned....
SEE, MASTERS, HOW IT WOULD ELUDE4 US. BLANK IT OFF, TOGETHER NOW....
The paths closed before me. My mind writhed5, twisted, darted6 here and there—and met only the impenetrable shield of the Gool defenses.
IT TIRES, MASTERS. WORK SWIFTLY NOW. LET US IMPRESS ON THE SUBJECT THE CO-ORDINATES OF THE BRAIN PIT. The conceptualization drifted into my mind. HERE, MAN. TRANSMIT THE TAPE HERE!
As from a distance, the monitor personality fraction watched the struggle. Kayle had been right. The Gool had waited—and now their moment had come. Even my last impulse of defiance—to place the tape in the machine—had been at the Gool command. They had looked into my mind. They understand psychology7 as no human analyst8 ever could; and they had led me in the most effective way possible, by letting me believe I was the master. They had made use of my human ingenuity9 to carry out their wishes—and Kayle had made it easy for them by evacuating10 a twenty-mile radius11 around me, leaving the field clear for the Gool.
HERE—The Gool voice rang like a bell in my mind: TRANSMIT THE TAPE HERE!
Even as I fought against the impulse to comply, I felt my arm twitch12 toward the machine.
THROW THE SWITCH! the voice thundered.
I struggled, willed my arm to stay at my side. Only a minute longer, I thought. Only a minute more, and the bomb would save me....
LINK UP, MASTERS!
I WILL NOT LINK. YOU PLOT TO FEED AT MY EXPENSE.
NO! BY THE MOTHER WORM, I PLEDGE MY GROOVE13 AT THE EATING TROUGH. FOR US THE MAN WILL GUT14 THE GREAT VAULT15 OF HIS NEST WORLD!
ALREADY YOU BLOAT AT OUR EXPENSE!
FOOL!! WOULD YOU BICKER16 NOW? LINK UP!
The Gool raged—and I grasped for an elusive17 thought and held it. The bomb, only a few feet away. The waiting machine. And the Gool had given me the co-ordinates of their cavern18....
With infinite sluggishness19, I moved.
LINK UP, MASTERS: THEN ALL WILL FEED....
IT IS A TRICK. I WILL NOT LINK.
I found the bomb, fumbled20 for a grip.
DISASTER, MASTERS! NOW IS THE PRIZE LOST TO US, UNLESS YOU JOIN WITH ME!
My breath choked off in my throat; a hideous21 pain coiled outward from my chest. But it was unimportant. Only the bomb mattered. I tottered22, groping. There was the table; the transmitter....
I lifted the bomb, felt the half-healed skin of my burned arm crackle as I strained....
I thrust the case containing the Master Tape out of the field of the transmitter, then pushed, half-rolled the bomb into position. I groped for the switch, found it. I tried to draw breath, felt only a surge of agony. Blackness was closing in....
The co-ordinates....
From the whirling fog of pain and darkness, I brought the target concept of the Gool cavern into view, clarified it, held it....
MASTERS! HOLD THE MAN! DISASTER!
Then I felt the Gool, their suspicions yielding to the panic in the mind of the Prime Overlord, link their power against me. I stood paralyzed, felt my identity dissolving like water pouring from a smashed pot. I tried to remember—but it was too faint, too far away.
Then from somewhere a voice seemed to cut in, the calm voice of an emergency reserve personality fraction. "You are under attack. Activate23 the reserve plan. Level Five. Use Level Five. Act now. Use Level Five...."
Through the miasma24 of Gool pressure, I felt the hairs stiffen25 on the back of my neck. All around me the Gool voices raged, a swelling26 symphony of discord27. But they were nothing. Level Five....
There was no turning back. The compulsions were there, acting28 even as I drew in a breath to howl my terror—
Level Five. Down past the shapes of dreams, the intense faces of hallucination; Level Three; Level Four and the silent ranked memories.... And deeper still—
Into a region of looming29 gibbering horror, of shadowy moving shapes of evil, of dreaded30 presences that lurked31 at the edge of vision....
Down amid the clamor of voiceless fears, the mounting hungers, the reaching claws of all that man had feared since the first tailless primate32 screamed out his terror in a tree-top: the fear of falling, the fear of heights.
Down to Level Five. Nightmare level.
I groped outward, found the plane of contact—and hurled33 the weight of man's ancient fears at the waiting Gool—and in their black confining caves deep in the rock of a far world, they felt the roaring tide of fear—fear of the dark, and of living burial. The horrors in man's secret mind confronted the horrors of the Gool Brain Pit. And I felt them break, retreat in blind panic from me—
All but one. The Prime Overlord reeled back with the rest, but his was a mind of terrible power. I sensed for a moment his bloated immense form, the seething34 gnawing35 hungers, insatiable, never to be appeased36. Then he rallied—but he was alone now.
LINK UP, MASTERS! THE PRIZE IS LOST. KILL THE MAN! KILL THE MAN!
I felt a knife at my heart. It fluttered—and stopped. And in that instant, I broke past his control, threw the switch. There was the sharp crack of imploding37 air. Then I was floating down, ever down, and all sensation was far away.
MASTERS! KILL TH
The pain cut off in an instant of profound silence and utter dark.
Then sound roared in my ears, and I felt the harsh grate of the floor against my face as I fell, and then I knew nothing more.
"I hope," General Titus was saying, "that you'll accept the decoration now, Mr. Granthan. It will be the first time in history that a civilian38 has been accorded this honor—and you deserve it."
I was lying in a clean white bed, propped39 up by big soft pillows, with a couple of good-looking nurses hovering40 a few feet away. I was in a mood to tolerate even Titus.
"Thanks, General," I said. "I suggest you give the medal to the volunteer who came in to gas me. He knew what he was going up against; I didn't."
"It's over, now, Granthan," Kayle said. He attempted to beam, settled for a frosty smile. "You surely understand—"
"Understanding," I said. "That's all we need to turn this planet—and a lot of other ones—into the kind of worlds the human mind needs to expand into."
"You're tired, Granthan," Kayle said. "You get some rest. In a few weeks you'll be back on the job, as good as new."
"That's where the key is," I said. "In our minds; there's so much there, and we haven't even scratched the surface. To the mind nothing is impossible. Matter is an illusion, space and time are just convenient fictions—"
"I'll leave the medal here, Mr. Granthan. When you feel equal to it, we'll make the official presentation. Television...."
He faded off as I closed my eyes and thought about things that had been clamoring for attention ever since I'd met the Gool, but hadn't had time to explore. My arm....
I felt my way along it—from inside—tracing the area of damage, watching as the bodily defenses worked away, toiling41 to renew, replace. It was a slow, mindless process. But if I helped a little....
It was easy. The pattern was there. I felt the tissues renew themselves, the skin regenerate42.
The bone was more difficult. I searched out the necessary minerals, diverted blood; the broken ends knit....
The nurse was bending over me, a bowl of soup in her hand.
"You've been asleep for a long time, sir," she said, smiling. "How about some nice chicken broth43 now?"
I ate the soup and asked for more. A doctor came and peeled back my bandages, did a double-take, and rushed away. I looked. The skin was new and pink, like a baby's—but it was all there. I flexed44 my right leg; there was no twinge of pain.
I listened for a while as the doctors gabbled, clucked, probed and made pronouncements. Then I closed my eyes again. I thought about the matter transmitter. The government was sitting on it, of course. A military secret of the greatest importance, Titus called it. Maybe someday the public would hear about it; in the meantime—
"How about letting me out of here?" I said suddenly. A pop-eyed doctor with a fringe of gray hair blinked at me, went back to fingering my arm. Kayle hove into view.
"I want out," I said. "I'm recovered, right? So now just give me my clothes."
"Now, now, just relax, Granthan. You know it's not as simple as that. There are a lot of matters we must go over."
"The war's over," I said. "You admitted that. I want out."
"Sorry." Kayle shook his head. "That's out of the question."
"Doc," I said. "Am I well?"
"Yes," he said. "Amazing case. You're as fit as you'll ever be; I've never—"
"I'm afraid you'll have to resign yourself to being here for a while longer, Granthan," Kayle said. "After all, we can't—"
"Can't let the secret of matter transmission run around loose, hey? So until you figure out the angles, I'm a prisoner, right?"
"I'd hardly call it that, Granthan. Still...."
I closed my eyes. The matter transmitter—a strange device. A field, not distorting space, but accentuating45 certain characteristics of a matter field in space-time, subtly shifting relationships....
Just as the mind could compare unrelated data, draw from them new concepts, new parallels....
The circuits of the matter transmitter ... and the patterns of the mind....
The exocosm and the endocosm, like the skin and the orange, everywhere in contact....
Somewhere there was a beach of white sand, and dunes46 with graceful47 sea-oats that leaned in a gentle wind. There was blue water to the far horizon, and a blue sky, and nowhere were there any generals with medals and television cameras, or flint-eyed bureaucrats48 with long schemes....
And with this gentle folding ... thus....
And a pressure here ... so....
I opened my eyes, raised myself on one elbow—and saw the sea. The sun was hot on my body, but not too hot, and the sand was white as sugar. Far away, a seagull tilted49, circling.
A wave rolled in, washed my foot in cool water.
I lay on my back, and looked up at white clouds in a blue sky, and smiled—then laughed aloud.
Distantly the seagull's cry echoed my laughter.
The End
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wrestled
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v.(与某人)搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 );扭成一团;扭打;(与…)摔跤 | |
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attenuated
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v.(使)变细( attenuate的过去式和过去分词 );(使)变薄;(使)变小;减弱 | |
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paralysis
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n.麻痹(症);瘫痪(症) | |
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elude
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v.躲避,困惑 | |
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writhed
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(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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darted
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v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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psychology
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n.心理,心理学,心理状态 | |
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analyst
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n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家 | |
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ingenuity
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n.别出心裁;善于发明创造 | |
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evacuating
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撤离,疏散( evacuate的现在分词 ); 排空(胃肠),排泄(粪便); (从危险的地方)撤出,搬出,撤空 | |
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radius
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n.半径,半径范围;有效航程,范围,界限 | |
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twitch
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v.急拉,抽动,痉挛,抽搐;n.扯,阵痛,痉挛 | |
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groove
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n.沟,槽;凹线,(刻出的)线条,习惯 | |
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gut
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n.[pl.]胆量;内脏;adj.本能的;vt.取出内脏 | |
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vault
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n.拱形圆顶,地窖,地下室 | |
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bicker
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vi.(为小事)吵嘴,争吵 | |
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elusive
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adj.难以表达(捉摸)的;令人困惑的;逃避的 | |
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cavern
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n.洞穴,大山洞 | |
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sluggishness
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不振,萧条,呆滞;惰性;滞性;惯性 | |
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fumbled
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(笨拙地)摸索或处理(某事物)( fumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 乱摸,笨拙地弄; 使落下 | |
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hideous
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adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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tottered
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v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 );踉跄;蹒跚;摇摇欲坠 | |
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activate
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vt.使活动起来,使开始起作用 | |
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miasma
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n.毒气;不良气氛 | |
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stiffen
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v.(使)硬,(使)变挺,(使)变僵硬 | |
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swelling
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n.肿胀 | |
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discord
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n.不和,意见不合,争论,(音乐)不和谐 | |
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acting
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n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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looming
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n.上现蜃景(光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼)v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 | |
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dreaded
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adj.令人畏惧的;害怕的v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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lurked
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vi.潜伏,埋伏(lurk的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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primate
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n.灵长类(目)动物,首席主教;adj.首要的 | |
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hurled
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v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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seething
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沸腾的,火热的 | |
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gnawing
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a.痛苦的,折磨人的 | |
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appeased
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安抚,抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 ); 绥靖(满足另一国的要求以避免战争) | |
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imploding
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v.(使)向心聚爆( implode的现在分词 ) | |
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civilian
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adj.平民的,民用的,民众的 | |
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propped
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支撑,支持,维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hovering
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鸟( hover的现在分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫 | |
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toiling
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长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 ); 艰难缓慢地移动,跋涉 | |
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regenerate
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vt.使恢复,使新生;vi.恢复,再生;adj.恢复的 | |
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broth
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n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等) | |
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flexed
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adj.[医]曲折的,屈曲v.屈曲( flex的过去式和过去分词 );弯曲;(为准备大干而)显示实力;摩拳擦掌 | |
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accentuating
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v.重读( accentuate的现在分词 );使突出;使恶化;加重音符号于 | |
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dunes
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沙丘( dune的名词复数 ) | |
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graceful
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adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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bureaucrats
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n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 );官僚主义;官僚主义者;官僚语言 | |
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tilted
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v. 倾斜的 | |
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