_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 psychology as no human analyst 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 ingenuity to carry out their wishes--and Kayle had made it easy for them by evacuating a twenty-mile radius 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 twitch 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 GROOVE AT THE EATING TROUGH. FOR US THE MAN WILL GUT THE GREAT VAULT OF HIS NEST WORLD!_ _ALREADY YOU BLOAT AT OUR EXPENSE!_ _FOOL!! WOULD YOU BICKER NOW? LINK UP!_ * * * * * The Gool raged--and I grasped for an elusive 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 cavern.... With infinite sluggishness, I moved. _LINK UP, MASTERS: THEN ALL WILL FEED...._ _IT IS A TRICK. I WILL NOT LINK._ I found the bomb, fumbled 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 hideous pain coiled outward from my chest. But it was unimportant. Only the bomb mattered. I tottered, 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.