"With them we are going to your Earth," he said. "This lolos plant
of itself has a power very wonderful. We crush it; and the blood of
it taken into our body, sends the mind upon strange and pleasant
wanderings."
"Evil wanderings," said Eo.
A drug! As Brutar further explained, I realized it. And I wondered
if this lolos plant--the name of it--sounded thus since to my own
mentality it suggested the lotus flower. I think that was so.
The blood of this plant was a powerful narcotic. Brutar had been
addicted to its use; and his wandering mind had come into the
Borderland. He had seen our Earth-realm; gone further until he
experienced the sensations of our physical consciousness. Had come
back, to gather his followers; to create in quantity the blood of this
lolos that all might go to conquer and enjoy this greater realm.
Brutar was absorbed in his subject. Listening to him, I had
nevertheless noticed that Bee's attention was fixed upon Eo. She was
whispering to him. With his sweet, boyish face, he was listening
to her, enraptured. He was close beside her, and I saw that he was
touching her. Brutar, still talking to me, bent to show me one of the
lolos plants. It shrank away from him as though in fear. He frowned;
struck it a blow with his hand. His attention momentarily was diverted
from us. I heard Eo murmur softly, yet tensely.
"You are right--girl. This is evil--I realize it now.... Rob! Hold
yourself firm! Stay with me! We will try to escape...."
* * * * *
I must revert now to Will, Thone and Ala in the Big-City. They had felt
Bee's thoughts; they knew we were in danger; Ala had caught just enough
to know that we were with Brutar.
"We must go," Thone hastily declared. "Try and follow them, Ala....
That Brutar is a mind very powerful for evil."
With Will held firmly between them, they swept out into space. To
Will it was a dream, a nightmare of mental chaos. Rushing through the
dark--through seemingly endless Space for endless Time. But he saw none
of the distorted things that I had seen, for he was in friendly hands.
A rushing black Nothingness sweeping past. A vague dream of flight; but
presently he found his mind clearing.
The void was illimitable. But soon it seemed not wholly empty. To one
side was a faint glow--an infinite distance away, as though it might
have been a nebula gleaming over Space a thousand million Light-years
of distance. Or something shining from another Time--eons away. It
moved sidewise as they swept along. It glowed, faded, was gone.
"We will not go there," Ala murmured. She seemed to shudder. "That is
the Realm of Disease. I hope never to go there."
Endless Time passing. Or perhaps, as Will was thinking, Time was in
abeyance, standing still, non-existent.
And Will saw other far-off gleaming patches, like faint drifting
star-dust. Soon they were gone. He did not ask what they might be.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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