He brought then a bowl, or brazier, in which like food the dried burning blood of the lolos was glowing. It was a dull red in the gloom, with tiny green tongues licking upward from it. I could not see the smoke. But I could sense it--smell it. We reclined by the brazier. The fumes brought a reeling of my senses. Unpleasant, frightening.... Then pleasant indeed. A drowsy drifting into rosy vacancy. I had intended not to yield myself wholly, but my will weakened.... I told myself that Brutar would guide me.... Out of the darkness at last with returning consciousness I found a gentle net of Brutar's thoughts cradling me. And himself regarding me impatiently. "Come, Rob. We are here. Stay close by me--and if you help me as I wish, reward shall be yours." There was a tenseness to his voice. I gazed around. We were in the Borderland--that same dark void with its rolling slopes. Near at hand I saw some two hundred of Brutar's workers--his fighters--drawn up in orderly array. Shadows like myself. And behind them a rabble of Egos in the fashion of men, women and children. His followers, waiting to enter the Earth-realm when the fighters had conquered it. I saw, too, hovering near Brutar and me, a dozen shapes of men--the leaders of Brutar's army awaiting his instructions. When I was more fully alert Brutar drew me aside. He spoke with a new force and succinctness. Because now the time for action had come and I think also that as we neared our Earth-state, there was a tendency toward restoration of all Earthly qualities. "Rob," he said, "I'll tell you now my plan. Your greatest city is near at hand--somewhere near here." "New York," I said. "Yes. I plan to attack it--demolish it. It's a very small portion of your Earth, of course, but with that evidence of my power I think your Earth-leaders will cease to fight me--will admit my supremacy. If not--well, then I shall demolish each of your great cities in turn--" He told me then that these two hundred men, with his dozen sub-leaders, were all the fighting force he at first proposed to use. We were about to attack New York City. His people would wait, here in the Borderland, for our success; then would enter the Earth-state to take possession of it. "You can help me, Rob, because you know your city better than I do. Look around us now--tell me exactly, where are we?" I saw then the shadows of ghostly houses. My own world! Grey, spectral houses ... streets ... a church ... trees lining a street of residences in a small quiet town. It lay in a plane tilted at a slight angle, and perhaps thirty feet above us. I looked up to the street overhead. Quiet? It was thronged with people--ghostly shapes crowded up there staring down at us. It seemed to be night up there; I could see the street lights; spots of light in the houses, and the headlights of scurrying automobiles.