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"You think to escape," he said, in the deadly, expressionless monotone of his kind-the only possible result of orally expressing reason uninfluenced by sentiment "You will not escape You are s-an iether in perfection There you see a perfect body" He pointed toward the rykor "It has no brain Here," and he raised one of his chelae to his head, "is the perfect brain It needs no body to function perfectly and properly as a brain You would pit your feeble intellect againstto slay me If you are thwarted in that you expect to slay yourself You will learn the power of mind over matter I am the mind You are the matter What brain you have is too weak and ill-developed to deserve the name of brain You have permitted it to be weakened by impulsive acts dictated by sentiment It has no value It has practically no control over your existence You will not kill h with you you shall be killed if it see to do You have no conception of the possibilities for pohich lie in a perfectly developed brain Look at that rykor He has no brain He can htly of his own volition An inherent mechanical instinct that we have permitted to remain in him allows him to carry food to his mouth; but he could not find food for himself We have to place it within his reach and always in the same place Should we put food at his feet and leave him alone he would starve to death But noatch what a real brain may accomplish"
He turned his eyes upon the rykor and squatted there glaring at the insensate thing Presently, to the girl's horror, the headless body moved It rose slowly to its feet and crossed the room to Luud; it stooped and took the hideous head in its hands; it raised the head and set it on its shoulders
"What chance have you against such power?" asked Luud "As I did with the rykor so can I do with you"
Tara of Helium made no reply Evidently no vocal reply was necessary
"You doubt h the girl had only thought it-she had not said it
Luud crossed the room and lay down Then he detached himself from the body and crawled across the floor until he stood directly in front of the circular opening through which she had seen hiht to his presence He stopped there and fastened his terrible eyes upon her He did not speak, but his eyes seeht to the center of her brain She felt an al her toward the kaldane She fought to resist it; she tried to turn away her eyes, but she could not They were held as in horrid fascination upon the glittering, lidless orbs of the great brain that faced her Slowly, every step a painful struggle of resistance, she moved toward the horrific monster She tried to cry aloud in an effort to awaken her nu faculties, but no sound passed her lips If those eyes would but turn away, just for an instant, she felt that she ain the power to control her steps; but the eyes never left hers They seee of control of her entire nervous system