But how about you and the other men of your party?
Idid not like them; they were crafty, deceitful, and cruel.
With the other man and the girl, I pursued them
inanother ship. Thereupon an old man stepped to the front and placed himself
directlybefore the throne. That is one reason why you have not been destroyed
before.
So was the life of the girl, Zanda, I reminded
her.
I directed it to drop down and approach thewindow
of the tower where I stood.
If he takes this other woman, I said, she will kill
him.
Never before in my life, I think,had I so
concentrated my mind upon a single idea. I was standing where I could look directly
out into the corridor whenthe door was opened. We await the wishes of the FireGod
from the lips of his son, Ul Vas.
In each of these were two men and a woman.
Nevertheless, I sought to concentrate my thoughts upon the metallicbrain wherever it
might be. We shall haveto overcome them with our bare hands. Sometimes people
imagine things, he said, in explanation of hisseeming doubt as to my veracity.
Turning quickly, I cautionedthem to silence. There was no silence, I replied; and
the room was crowded withpeople. And you, she continued; you are a great man in your
own world.
I think we should have had a good fight on ourhands
just now, had they been able to.
I might have put up a fight, but Isaw nothing to be
gained by doing so.
One of the pleasures of the trip I am to be robbed
of by our captors,I replied.