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room
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to investigate. Amazed, disgruntled, dismayed by the to him completely
inexplicable
phenomenon he had just witnessed, he fell an easy prey to the Palainian
Lensman.
Nadreck invaded his mind and explored it, channel by channel; findingùnot
entirely
unexpectedlyùthat this Number One knew nothing whatever of interest.
Nadreck did not destroy the base. Instead, after setting up a small
instrument in
the commander's private office, he took that unfortunate wight aboard his
speedster and
drove off into space. He immobilized his captive, not by loading him with
manacles, but
by deftly severing a few essential nerve trunks. Then he really studied the
Onlonian's
mindùline by line, this time; almost cell by cell. A masterùalmost certainly
Kandron
himselfùhad operated here. There was not the slightest trace of tampering; no
leads to
or indications of what the activating stimulus would have to be; all that the
fellow now
knew was that it was his job to hold his base inviolate against any and every
form of
intrusion and to keep that speedster flitting around all over space on a
director-by-
chance as much as possible of the time, leaking slightly a certain signal now
and then.
Even under this microscopic re-examination, he knew nothing whatever of
Kandron; nothing of Onlo or of Thrale; nothing of any Boskonian organization,
activity,
or thing; and Nadreck, although baffled still, remained undisturbed. This
trap, he
thought, could almost certainly be used against the trapper. Until a certain
call came
through his relay in the base, he would investigate the planets of this
system.
During the investigation a thought impinged upon his Lens from Karen
Kinnison,
one of the very few warm-blooded beings for whom he had any real liking or
respect.
"Busy, Nadreck?" she asked, as casually as though she had just left him.
"In large, yes. In detail and at the moment, no. Is there any small
problem in
which I can be of assistance?"
"Not smallùbig. I just got the funniest distress call I ever heard or
heard of. On a
high bandùway, "way upù there. Do you know of any race that thinks on that
band?"
"I do not believe so." He thought for a moment. "Definitely, no."
"Neither do I. It wasn't broadcast, either, but was directed at any
member of a
special race or tribeùvery special. Classification, straight Z's to ten or
twelve places,
sheù or itùseemed to be trying to specify."
"A frigid race of extreme type, adapted to an environment having a
temperature
of approximately one degree absolute."
"Yes. Like you, only more so." Kay paused, trying to put into
intelligible thought a
picture inherently incapable of reception or recognition by her as yet
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strictly three-
dimensional intelligence. "Something like the Eich, too, but not much. Their
visible
aspect was obscure, fluid . . . amorphous . . . Indefinite? . . . skip itùI
couldn't really
perceive it, let alone describe it I wish you had caught that thought."
"I wish so, tooùit is very interesting. But tell meù if the thought was
directed, not
broadcast, how could you have received it?"
"That's the funniest part of the whole thing." Nadreck could feel the
girl frown in
concentration. "It came at me from all sides at onceùnever felt anything like
it. Naturally
I started feeling around for the sourceùparticularly since it was a distress
signalùbut
before I could get-even a general direction of the origin it . . . it . . .
well, it didn't really
disappear or really weaken, but something happened to it. I couldn't read it
any
moreùand that really did throw me for a loss." She paused, then went on. "It
didn't so
much go away as go down, some way or other. Then it vanished completely,
without
really going anywhere. I'm not making myself clearùI simply can'tùbut have I
given
you enough leads so that you can make any sense at all out of any part of it?"
"I'm very sorry to say that I can not."
Nor could he, ever, for excellent reasons. That girl had a mind whose
power,
scope, depth, and range she herself did not, could not even dimly understand;
a mind to
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