Latest / Galactic Patrol / 18 - Galactic Patrol by E. E. Smith

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18 - Galactic Patrol by E. E. Smith · Galactic Patrol

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eighteen of Galactic Patrol by E. E. Smith. This
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Kinnison was dragged
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  Speaker 1: out of unconsciousness by the knowledge that he'd landed his
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  Speaker 1: speedster in nurseless. He came to, or rather to say
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  Speaker 1: that he came half to would be a more accurate statement,
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  Speaker 1: with a yell directed at the blurrily seen figure in white,
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  Speaker 1: which he knew must be a nurse nurse. Then, as
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  Speaker 1: a searing stab of pain shot through him at the effort,
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  Speaker 1: he went on, thinking at the figure in white through
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  Speaker 1: his lens, my speedster, I landed her free. Get to
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  Speaker 1: the spaceport. There there lensman, a low rich voice crooned,
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  Speaker 1: and a red head bent over him. The speedster has
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  Speaker 1: been taken care of. Everything is on the needles. Go
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  Speaker 1: to sleep. Rest. But my ship, never mind your ship.
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  Speaker 1: It was landed and put away. Listen, dumbbell, snapped the patient,
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  Speaker 1: speaking aloud now in spite of the pain, the better
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  Speaker 1: to drive home his meaning. Don't try to soothe me.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think I am delirious? Get this and
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  Speaker 1: get it straight, I said, I landed the speedster free.
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  Speaker 1: If you don't know what that means, tell somebody that
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  Speaker 1: does get the space for Get Haines, get we got
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  Speaker 1: them landsmen long ago. Although her voice was still creamily
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  Speaker 1: sweetly soft, an angry color burned in the nurse's face.
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  Speaker 1: I said, everything is on zero. Your speedster was inerted.
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  Speaker 1: How else could you be here inert? I helped do
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  Speaker 1: it myself, so I know that she is inert qax
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  Speaker 1: And the patient relapsed instantly into unconsciousness, and the nurse
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  Speaker 1: turned to an intern standing by. Wherever that nurse was,
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  Speaker 1: at least one doctor could almost always be found, dumb bell,
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  Speaker 1: She flared, what a sweet mess he's going to be
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  Speaker 1: to take care of. He's not even conscious yet, and
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  Speaker 1: he's calling names and picking fights already. In a few days,
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  Speaker 1: Kinnison was fully and alertly conscious. In a week, most
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  Speaker 1: of the pain had left him, and he was beginning
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  Speaker 1: to chafe under restraint. In ten days, he was fit
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  Speaker 1: to be tied, and his acquaintance with his head nurse,
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  Speaker 1: so inauspiciously begun, developed even more inauspiciously as time went on.
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  Speaker 1: For as Haines and Lacey had each more than anticipated,
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  Speaker 1: the Lensman was by no means an ideal patient. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: he was most decidedly the opposite. Nothing could be done
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  Speaker 1: which would satisfy him. All doctors were fat heads, even Lacy,
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  Speaker 1: the man who had put him back together. All nurses
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  Speaker 1: were dumbbells, even or especially mac who, with almost superhuman skill, tact,
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  Speaker 1: and patience, had been holding him together. Why even fatheads
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  Speaker 1: and dumbbells, even high grade morons, ought to know what
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  Speaker 1: a man needed for food. Accustomed to eating everything that
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  Speaker 1: he could reach three or four or five times a day,
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  Speaker 1: he did not realize, nor did his stomach, that his
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  Speaker 1: now quiescent body could no longer use the five thousand
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  Speaker 1: or more calories that he had been wont to burn
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  Speaker 1: up each twenty four hours in intense effort. He was
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  Speaker 1: always hungry, and he was forever demanding food. And food
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  Speaker 1: to him did not mean orange juice or grape juice,
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  Speaker 1: or tomato juice or milk, Nor did it mean weak
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  Speaker 1: tea and hard dried toast with an occasional soft boiled egg.
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  Speaker 1: If he ate eggs at all, he wanted him fried,
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  Speaker 1: three or four of them, accompanied by two or three
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  Speaker 1: thick slices of ham. He wanted and demanded in no
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  Speaker 1: uncertain terms, argumentatively and persistently a big, thick, rare beef steak.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted baked beans with plenty of fat. Pork. He
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  Speaker 1: wanted bread and thick slices piled high with butter, And
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  Speaker 1: not this quadruply unmentionably qualified toast. He wanted roast, beef,
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  Speaker 1: rare and great chunks. He wanted potatoes and thick brown gravy.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted corn, beef and cabbage. He wanted pie, any
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  Speaker 1: kind of pie, in thick, large quarters. He wanted peas
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  Speaker 1: and corn, and asparagus and cucumbers, and also various other
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  Speaker 1: worldly staples of diet, which he often and insistently mentioned
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  Speaker 1: by name. But above all, he wanted beef steak. He
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  Speaker 1: thought about it days, he dreamed about it nights. One night,
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  Speaker 1: in particular, he dreamed about it an especially luscious porter house,
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  Speaker 1: fried in butter and smothered in mushrooms, only to wake
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  Speaker 1: up mouth watering, literally starved, to face again the weak tea,
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  Speaker 1: dry toast, and horror of horrors, this time of flabby, pallid,
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  Speaker 1: flaccid poached egg. It was the last straw. Just just
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  Speaker 1: take it away, he said, weakly, And then when the
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  Speaker 1: nurse did not obey, he reached out and pushed the
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  Speaker 1: breakfast tray and all off the table. As it crashed
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  Speaker 1: to the floor, he turned away, and in spite of
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  Speaker 1: all his efforts, two hot tears forced themselves between his eyelids.
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  Speaker 1: It was a particularly trying ordeal, and one requiring all
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  Speaker 1: of even Max's skilled diplomacy and forbearance to make the
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  Speaker 1: recalcitrant patient eat the breakfast prescribed for him. She was
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  Speaker 1: finally successful, however, and as she stepped out into the corridor,
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  Speaker 1: she met the ubiquitous in turn. How's your lensman, he asked,
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  Speaker 1: in the privacy of the diet kitchen. Don't call him
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  Speaker 1: my lensman, she stormed. She was about to explode with
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  Speaker 1: the pent up feelings which she, of course could not
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  Speaker 1: vent upon such a pitiful, helpless thing as her star
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  Speaker 1: patient beef steak. I almost wish they would give him
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  Speaker 1: a beef steak and then he'd choke on it, which
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  Speaker 1: of course he would. He's worse than a baby. I
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  Speaker 1: never saw such a such a brat in my life.
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  Speaker 1: I'd like to spank him, he needs it. I'd like
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  Speaker 1: to know how he ever got to be a lensman.
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  Speaker 1: The big, cantankerous clunker. I'm going to spank him too
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  Speaker 1: one of these days. See if I don't, don't take
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  Speaker 1: it so hard. Mac The in turn urged. He was, however,
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  Speaker 1: very much relieved that relations between the handsome young Lensman
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  Speaker 1: and the gorgeous redhead were not upon a more cordial basis.
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  Speaker 1: He won't be here very long. But I never saw
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  Speaker 1: a patient clog your jets before. You probably never saw
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  Speaker 1: a patient like him before either. I certainly hope he
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  Speaker 1: never gets cracked up again. Huh do I have to
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  Speaker 1: draw you a chart? She asks wheatly. Or if he
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  Speaker 1: does get cracked up again, I hope they send him
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  Speaker 1: some other hospital, and she flounced out. Nurse mac dougall
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  Speaker 1: thought that when the Lensman could eat the meat he craved,
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  Speaker 1: her troubles would be over. But she was mistaken. Kinnison
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  Speaker 1: was nervous, moody, brooding by turns irritable, sullen, and pugnacious.
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  Speaker 1: Nor is it to be wondered at He was chained
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  Speaker 1: to that bed, and in his mind was the gnawing
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  Speaker 1: consciousness that he had failed. And not only failed, he
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  Speaker 1: had made a complete fool of himself. He had underestimated
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  Speaker 1: an enemy and as a result of his own stupidity,
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  Speaker 1: the whole patrol had taken a setback. He was anguished
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  Speaker 1: and tormented. Therefore, listen, mac, he pleaded, one day, bring
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  Speaker 1: me some clothes and let me take a walk. I
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  Speaker 1: need the exercise. Not yet, Kim, she denied him, gently,
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  Speaker 1: but with her entrancing smile in full evidence. But pretty quick,
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  Speaker 1: when that leg looks a little bit less like a
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  Speaker 1: Chinese puzzle, you and Nursey go by bye, beautiful but dumb,
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  Speaker 1: the Lensman growled. Can't you and those cock eyed croakers
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  Speaker 1: realize that I'll never get any strength back if you
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  Speaker 1: keep me in bed all the rest of my life
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  Speaker 1: and don't talk baby talk at me either. I'm well
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  Speaker 1: enough at least so that you can wipe that professional
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  Speaker 1: smile off your pan and cut that soothing bedside manner
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  Speaker 1: of yours. Very well, I think so too, she snapped,
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  Speaker 1: patience at long last gone. Somebody should tell you the truth.
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  Speaker 1: I always suppose that Lensman had to have brains, But
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  Speaker 1: you have acted like a spoiled brat ever since you've
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  Speaker 1: been here. First you wanted to eat yourself sick. Now
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  Speaker 1: you want to get up with bones. Half knit burns,
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  Speaker 1: half healed, and undo everything that's been done for you.
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  Speaker 1: Why don't you snap out of it and at your
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  Speaker 1: age for a change. I never did think nurses had
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  Speaker 1: much sense, and now I know they haven't. Kinnison eyed
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  Speaker 1: her with intense disfavor, not at all convinced. I'm not
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  Speaker 1: talking about going back to work. I mean a little
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  Speaker 1: gentle exercise and I know what I need. You'd be
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  Speaker 1: surprised at what you don't know. And the nurse walked out,
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  Speaker 1: chin in the air. In five minutes, however, she was
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  Speaker 1: back her radiant smile again, flashing sorry, Kim, I shouldn't
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  Speaker 1: have blasted off that way. I know you're bound to
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  Speaker 1: backfire and to have brainstorms. I would too if I were.
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  Speaker 1: Cancel it. Mac, I, I don't know why I have
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  Speaker 1: to be such a mutt as to be crabbing at
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  Speaker 1: you all the time. Q X Lensman, she replied, entirely serene.
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  Speaker 1: Now I do. You're just not the type to stay
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  Speaker 1: in bed without a griping you. But when a man
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  Speaker 1: has been ground up into such hamburger as you are,
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  Speaker 1: he has to stay in bed, whether he likes it
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  Speaker 1: or not, and no matter how much he pops off
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  Speaker 1: about it. Roll over here now and I'll give you
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  Speaker 1: an alcohol rub. But it won't be long now, really,
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  Speaker 1: pretty soon, we'll have you out in a wheel chair.
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  Speaker 1: Thus it went for weeks. Kinnison knew his behavior was atrocious, abominable,
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  Speaker 1: but he simply could not help it. Every so often,
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  Speaker 1: the accumulated pressure of his bitterness and anxiety would blow off,
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  Speaker 1: and like a jungle tiger with a toothache, he would
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  Speaker 1: bite in claw anything or anybody within reach. Finally, however,
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  Speaker 1: the last picture was studied, the last bandage was removed,
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  Speaker 1: and he was discharged as fit. And he was not
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  Speaker 1: discharged bitterly, although he resented his captivity, as he called it,
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  Speaker 1: until he really was fit. Haines sought to that, and
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  Speaker 1: Haines had allowed only the most sketchy interviews during that
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  Speaker 1: long convalescence. Discharged, however, Kinnison sought him out. Let me
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  Speaker 1: talk first, Haines instructed him at sight, no self reproaches,
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  Speaker 1: no destructive criticism, everything constructive. Now, Kimball, I'm mighty glad
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  Speaker 1: to hear you've made a perfect recovery. You were in
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  Speaker 1: bad shape. Now go ahead. You've just about shut my
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  Speaker 1: mouth by your first order, Kinnison smiled sourly as he
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  Speaker 1: spoke two words flat failure. No, let me add two more.
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  Speaker 1: As yet that's the spirit, Haines exclaimed. Nor do we
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  Speaker 1: agree with you that it was a failure. It was
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  Speaker 1: merely not a success so far, which is an altogether
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  Speaker 1: different thing. Also, I may add that we had very
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  Speaker 1: fine reports indeed on you from the hospital. Huh, Kinnison
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  Speaker 1: was amazed, to the point of being inarticulate. You just
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  Speaker 1: about tore it down, of course, but that was only
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  Speaker 1: to be expected. But sir, I made such an exactly
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  Speaker 1: as Lacey tells me quite frequently. He likes to have
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  Speaker 1: patience over there that they don't like. Mull that one
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  Speaker 1: over for a bit. You may understand it better as
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  Speaker 1: you get older. The thought, however, may take some of
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  Speaker 1: the load off your mind. Well, sir, I am feeling
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  Speaker 1: a trifle low. But if you and the rest of
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  Speaker 1: them still think we do, so, think cheer up, get
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  Speaker 1: on with your story. Well, I've been doing a lot
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  Speaker 1: of thinking, and before I go around sticking my neck
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  Speaker 1: out again, I'm going to you don't need to tell me,
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  Speaker 1: you know, no, sir, but I think i'd better. I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to Arisia to see if I can get me
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  Speaker 1: a few treatments for swelled head and lame brain. I
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  Speaker 1: still think that I know how to use the lens
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  Speaker 1: to good advantage, but I simply haven't got enough jets
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  Speaker 1: to do it. You see, I he stopped. He would
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  Speaker 1: not offer anything that might sound like an alibi, but
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  Speaker 1: his thoughts were plain as print to the old lensman.
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  Speaker 1: Go ahead, son, we know you wouldn't if I thought
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  Speaker 1: at all, I assumed that I was tackling men, since
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  Speaker 1: those on the ship were men, and men were the
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  Speaker 1: only known inhabitants of the Aldeboranian system. But when those
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  Speaker 1: wheelmen took me so easily, so completely, it became very
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  Speaker 1: evident that I didn't have enough stuff. I ran like
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  Speaker 1: a scared pup. I was lucky to get home at all.
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  Speaker 1: It wouldn't have happened if he paused. If what reason
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  Speaker 1: it out? Son, Haines advised pointedly, you are wrong, dead wrong.
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  Speaker 1: You made no mistake, either in judgment or in execution.
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  Speaker 1: You've been blaming yourself for assuming that they were men.
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  Speaker 1: Let us suppose that you had assumed that they were
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  Speaker 1: the Erysians themselves. Then what after close scrutiny. Even in
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  Speaker 1: the light of after knowledge, we do not see how
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  Speaker 1: you could have changed the outcome. It did not occur,
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  Speaker 1: even to the sagacious old admiral that Kinnison need not
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  Speaker 1: have gone in. Lensman always went in. Well, anyway, they
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  Speaker 1: licked me, and that hurts, Kinnison admitted frankly. So I'm
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  Speaker 1: going back to Ursia for some training. If they'll give
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  Speaker 1: it to me. I may be gone quite a while,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: as it may take even them a long time to
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  Speaker 1: increase the permeability of my skull enough so that an
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  Speaker 1: idea can filter through it in something under a century.
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  Speaker 1: Hm Haines pondered, it's never been done. They are a
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  Speaker 1: peculiar race, incomprehensible, but not vindictive. They may refuse you,
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  Speaker 1: but nothing worse. That is, if you do not cross
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  Speaker 1: the barrier without invitation. It's a splendid idea, I think,
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  Speaker 1: but be very careful to strike that barrier free and
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  Speaker 1: at almost zero power, or else don't strike it at all.
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  Speaker 1: They shook hands, and in a space of minutes the
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  Speaker 1: speedster was again tearing through space. Kinnison now knew exactly
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  Speaker 1: what he wanted to get, and he utilized every waking
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: hour of that long trip in physical and mental exercise
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: to prepare himself to take it. Thus the time did
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  Speaker 1: not seem long. He crept up to the barrier at
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  Speaker 1: a snail's pace, stopping instantly as he touched it, and
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: through that barrier he sent a thought. Is it permitted
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  Speaker 1: that I approach your planet? He asked? Neither brazenly nor obsequiously.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: He was matter of factly asking a simple question and
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  Speaker 1: expecting a simple reply. He knew that to these beings,
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  Speaker 1: whatever they really were, salutations and identifications were alike superfluous.
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  Speaker 1: Nor was he met as Helmuth had been met. Ah
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  Speaker 1: Tis kimbal Kinnison of Earth. A slow, deep measured voice
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  Speaker 1: resounded in his brain. Neutralize your controls, you will be landed.
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  Speaker 1: He did so, and the inert speedster shot forward to
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  Speaker 1: come to ground in a perfect landing. At a regulation spaceport.
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  Speaker 1: He strode into the office to confront the same grotesque
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  Speaker 1: dragon like entity who had measured him for his lens
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  Speaker 1: not so long ago. Now, however, he stared straight into
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  Speaker 1: that entity's unblinking eyes in silence. Ah, you have progressed.
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  Speaker 1: You realize now that vision is not always reliable at
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  Speaker 1: our previous interview, you took it for granted that what
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  Speaker 1: you saw must really exist, and did not wonder as
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  Speaker 1: to what our true shapes might be. I'm wondering now, seriously,
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  Speaker 1: Kinnison replied, And if it is permitted, I intend to
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  Speaker 1: stay here till I can see true shape. This and
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the figure changed instantly into that of an old, white bearded,
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  Speaker 1: scholarly gentleman. No, there's a vast difference between seeing something
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  Speaker 1: myself and having you show it to me. I realize
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  Speaker 1: only too well that you can make me see you
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  Speaker 1: as anything you choose. You could appear to me as
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  Speaker 1: a perfect copy of myself, or as any other thing
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  Speaker 1: or person or object conceivable to my mind. Ah, you
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  Speaker 1: have indeed progressed while you were expected to return. You
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: are ahead of time by several of your years. When
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: you approached the barrier, it was supposed that you came
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: to ask for some particular information. But now that I
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: search your mind, I perceive that what you seek is
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: not mere information, but is indeed knowledge. You say that
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: you expected me, How could you know I was coming.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I didn't decide definitely myself till only a couple of
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  Speaker 1: weeks ago. It was inevitable. When we fitted your lens,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: we knew that you would return if you lived, As
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  Speaker 1: we recently informed that one known as Helmuth. Helmuth, you
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: know then where Kinnison choked himself off, he would not
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: ask for help. In that he would fight his own
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: battles and bury his own dead. If they volunteered the information,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: well and good, but he would not ask it, nor
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: did the Erysian furnish it. You are right, the sage remarked, imperturbably.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: For strong development, it is essential that you secure that
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: information for yourself. And then he continued his previous thought.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: As we told Helmuth recently, we have given your civilization
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: and instrumentality the lens, by virtue of which it should
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: be able to make itself secure throughout the galaxy. Having
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: given it, we could do nothing more of real or
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: permanent benefit until you lensmen yourselves began to realize what
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: it was that we had given you. That realization has
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: been inevitable from the first. It has been certain that
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: in time your minds would become strong enough to discover
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  Speaker 1: the theretofore unknown depths of power of your lenses. As
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: soon as any mind made that discovery, it would of
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: course return to Arisia, the source of the lens, for
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: additional instruction, which equally, of course, that mind could not
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: have borne previously. Decade by decade, your minds have become stronger.
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  Speaker 1: Finally you came to be fitted with a lens. Your mind,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: while pitifully undeveloped, had a latent capacity and a power
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  Speaker 1: that made your return here certain. Since your enlensment, there
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: has been one other who will return. Indeed, it has
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: become a topic of discussion among us as to whether
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: you or that other would be the first advanced student?
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Who is that other? If I may ask your friend
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Worsel the Valantean, He's got a real mind, way way
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  Speaker 1: ahead of mine, the lensman stated, as a matter of
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: self evident fact. In some ways, yes, in other and
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  Speaker 1: highly I am important characteristics know huh, Kinneson exclaimed, In
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: what possible ways have I got it over him? I
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: am not certain that I can explain it exactly in
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: thoughts which you can understand. Broadly speaking, his mind is
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: the better trained, the more fully developed. It is of
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: more grasp and reach, and of vastly greater present power.
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  Speaker 1: It is more controllable, more responsive, more adaptable, than is
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  Speaker 1: yours now. But your mind, while undeveloped, is of considerably
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: greater capacity than his, and of greater and more varied
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: latent capabilities. Above all, you have a driving force, a
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: will to do, an undefeatable mental urge that no one
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: of his race will be able to develop for many
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: cycles of time to come. Since I selected you as
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the first to return, I am naturally gratified that you
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: have developed so rapidly. Well, I've been more or less
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: under pressure, and I've got quite a few lucky breaks.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: But at that it seemed to me I was progressing
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: backward instead of forward. It is ever, thus with the
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: really competent, prepare yourself. And then he launched a mental bolt,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: at the impact of which Kinnisson's mind literally turned inside
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: out in a wildly gyrating spiral vortex of dizzyingly confused images.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Resist came the harsh command. Resist ah, how demanded the writhing,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: sweating lensman. You might as well tell a fly to
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: resist an inert spaceship. Use your will, your force, your adaptability,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: shift your mind to meet mine. At every point. Apart
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: from these fundamentals, neither I nor anyone else can tell
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: you how each mind must find its own medium and
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: develop its own technique. But this is a very mild treatment,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: indeed one conditioned to your present strength. I would increase
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: it gradually in severity, but rest assured that I will
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: add no time raise it to the point to permanent damage.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Constructive exercises will come later. The first step must be
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: to build up your resistance. Therefore, resist the force, which
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: had not slackened for an instant, waxed slowly to the
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: very verge of intolerability, and grimly, doggedly, the Lensman fought it.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Teeth locked muscles, straining fingers digging savagely into the hard
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: leather upholstery of his chair. He fought it, mustering his
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: every ultimate resource to the task. Suddenly the torture ceased,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and the Lensman slumped down, a mental and physical wreck.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: He was white, trembling, sweating, shaken to the very core
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: of his being. He was ashamed of his weakness. He
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: was humiliated and bitterly disappointed at the showing he had made.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: But from the Erysian there came a calm, encouraging thought.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: You need not feel ashamed. You should instead feel proud,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: for you have made a start, which is really surprising,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: even to me, your sponsor. This may seem to you
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: like needless punishment, but it is not. This is the
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: only possible way in which that which you seek may
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: be found. While in that case, go to it. The
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Lensman declared, I can take it. Day after day, and
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: week after week, the advanced instruction went on, with the
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: pupil becoming ever stronger, until he was taking without damage,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: thrusts that would have slain him instantly. A few weeks since,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the bouts became shorter and shorter, requiring as they did,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: such terrific outpourings of mental force that not even the
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: master could stand the awful strain for more than half
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: an hour at a time. And now these savage conflicts
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: of wills and minds were interspersed with real instruction, with
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: lessons neither painful nor unpleasant. In these, the aged scientists
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: probed gently into the youngster's mind, opening it and exposing
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: to its owner's gaze vast caverns whose very presence he
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: had never even suspected. Some of these storehouses were already
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: partially or completely filled, needing only arrangement and connection. Others
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: were nearly empty. These were cataloged, that made accessible and
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: in all permeating everything was the lens. This is just
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: like clearing out a clogged up water system with the
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: lens the pump that wouldn't work, exclaimed Kennisson. One day,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: more like that than you at present realize, assented the Erysian.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: You have observed, of course, that I have not given
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: you any detailed instructions, nor pointed out any specific abilities
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: of the lens which you have not known how to use.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: You will have to operate the pump yourself, and you
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: have many surprises awaiting you as to what your lens
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: will pump and how. Our sole task is to prepare
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: your mind to work with the lens, and that task
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: is not yet done. Let us on with it. Eventually
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: the time came when Kinnisson could block out entirely the
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: suggestions of his mentor. But he did not reveal that fact,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: nor now blocked out, could the Risian discern it. The
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: lensmen gathered all all his force together, concentrated it, and
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: hurled it back at his teacher, and there ensued a struggle,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: nonetheless titanic because of its essential friendliness. The very ether
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: seethed and boiled with the fury of the mental forces
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: there at grips. But finally the lensmen beat down the
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: other's screens, and then, boring deep into his eyes, he
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: willed with all his force to see that Ouryssian as
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: he really was, And instantly the scholarly old man subsided
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: into a brain. There were a few appendages, of course,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: and other appertinences and incidentials to nourishment, locomotion, and the like,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: but to all intents and purposes, the Urysian was simply
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: and solely a brain. Tension ended, conflict ceased, and Kinnison apologized,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: think nothing of it, and the brain actually smiled into
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Kinnison's mind. Any mind of power sufficient to block mine
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: is of course able to hurl no feeble bolts of
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: its own to it. However, that you thrust no such
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: force at any lesser mind, or it dies instantly. Kinnison
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: started to stammer a reply, but the Erisian went on, No, son,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: I knew and know that the warning is superfluous. If
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: you are not worthy of this power, and were you
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: not able to control it properly, you would not have it.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: You have obtained that which you sought. Go then with power.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: But this is only one phase, barely a beginning, protested Kinnison. Ah,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: you realize even that, truly, youth, you have come far
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: and fast, but you are not yet ready for more.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: And it is a truism that the reception of forces
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: for which a mind is not prepared will destroy that mind. Thus,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: when you came to me, you knew exactly what you wanted.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Do you know with equal certainty what more you want
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: from us? Ah? No, nor will you for years? If ever, indeed,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: it may well be that only your descendants will be
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: ready for that for which you now so dimly grope. Again,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: I say, young man, go with power, And Kinnison went
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: end of chapter eighteen.