"Has your science any way of telling us who was in command of the Jovian
ship?" he asked.
"Were your men who lie dead familiar with the features of the Jovian
Viceroy?"
"Yes, all of them."
"Then we will search the brains of the dead. The pictures that are in
the living brain fade rapidly when death comes, but the last impression
of these men was a powerful one of fighting and hatred and some traces
may remain. I will search."
* * * * *
The huge slug crawled over the ground to the body of the nearest dead
Terrestrial. In one of his many hands he carried a shiny metal tube from
which crimson rays flickered and played over the head of the dead man.
The skull disintegrated under the influence of the strange instrument
until the brain lay naked and exposed to the fierce glare of the Martian
sun. The Martian delicately connected two wires terminating in metal
plates to the tissue of the brain and attached the other ends of the
wires to a metal circlet which he clamped about his middle. For some
moments he remained motionless and then crawled to the body of the
second dead Earthman. One after another he examined each of the eighteen
dead bodies. When he had completed he crawled over to Damis and Turgan.
"Put these bands about your brows," he commanded in thought language as
he handed to each of them a metallic band similar to the one clasped
about him. The two Earthmen quickly adjusted the bands. "Let your minds
remain a blank and in them will be reproduced the impressions I have
gathered from the brains of your dead followers."
Damis sprang suddenly upward and smote with all of his force at the
air. Out of nothingness had materialized the form of a huge Jovian clad
in the uniform of Glavour's guards. His blow went harmless through the
thin air and the Jovian swung a massive ax. Just before the blow landed
the Jovian disappeared and a thought wave from the Martian impinged on
Damis' brain.
"Spare your energies, Nepthalim," the message said. "What you saw was
not a Jovian but was the last impression stored in the brain of the man
who met his death under a blow of the ax which seemed to be striking at
you. I am merely reproducing in you the emotions and experiences that
man felt. Had I allowed the phantom blow to land, you would now be cold
in death, so great was the strength of the impression. Now make your
mind again a blank and I will reveal to you what was in the mind of
another at the instant that his death came upon him."
* * * * *
Before the Nepthalim's startled gaze, another Jovian appeared.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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