We moved on. Came at last to the great field. Behind us the opposite side of the encampment--the enclosure wherein I had seen the creation of thought-material--was now almost over our heads. The ground of the field was soft and flaky--it seemed as though it might have been a black soil lying in flakes. Things were rooted within it--growing things set in long orderly rows that stretched up the concave surface into the dimness of distance. They appeared to be plants; in height about to my knee. A central stalk; branches bent outward like gesturing arms. A bud, or flower, at the top. It seemed to carry features--a face. My imagination? Something that had been said or suggested to me? Possibly. But the things bent aside as we advanced upon them. They seemed eyeing us; suddenly I was conscious of a myriad eyes from everywhere fixed upon me. I said to Brutar, "This black ground--is that thought-material?" "Yes," he said. "Made from the same substance you saw created. But many mental processes were necessary to bring it to this final state." "And then you planted these--things in it?" I asked. "They look as though they had an intelligence. I don't understand that. Are they growing here--or what?" Brutar hesitated. I think that the man's learning was not very great. Eo said: "I believe I can explain it, Rob. All things in our world are divided into two classes. One--the inert, material bodies. These we create from nothingness to their final perfected state. The other class--living organisms--is very different. The addition of a Creator-Thought is necessary. These plants--to be specific--are called lolos. The lolos plant. To create it we must have a spore--an infinitesimal something already existing. With this spore, others like it may be created by our own mentalities. And nurtured by our mentalities through a period of growth. But that latter process can be simplified by the production of this soil in which the plants are then nourished. It is basically an identical process." * * * * * "It is much like our own world," I said. "Except that these plants seem to have a conscious mind." "Why not?" Brutar demanded. "Every living thing has a mind." Eo added, "Since the essence of everything is mentality--naturally the spark of life must bring that mentality to consciousness." "These things then," I said, "they know that they are alive?" "Of course. And Rob, what you told Brutar of your Earth-agriculture--what you called your vegetable kingdom--seems not so very different from ours." "But it is different," I said. "Our plants--our growing things--are not aware that they are alive." Eo demanded gently, "How do you know that? Is it not perhaps that your own mentality is lacking, to gauge the power of theirs?" I smiled. "It may be so.... Brutar, these lolos plants--what is their purpose?"