For an instant, he looked through the jumble that was her mind. Sensuality, sloth, greed, hate, envy, pride, hunger, death wish--it was the usual human pattern well enough, but they were letters that spelled out no words. It would be impossible to find any information in that psychic junk heap. Deftly, Hammen turned Gordus back on. "... must know. You'll have to help me, Hammen." "Why must I?" "Simplicity. You must. We stay here until you do. You can't close the transmission without me, and I will not do it until you help me pick the woman's mind. We can wait forever until you decide to do as I order. There is no time here." Gordus was a blind old man stumbling in the dark. He hadn't seen Lad join them inside the diagram. He probably wasn't even aware that Hammen had the woman under tow. "Listen to me, Gordus. That about there being 'no time' here is a mathematical abstraction. _Practically_, it has its limitations. There is some flow of some kind of duration here, otherwise our questions and answers would come at the same time." "What are you trying to teach me?" Gordus demanded. "I was a Companion before you were born." "But then the Mindsnake wasn't so active or so powerful. If the 'duration' of our transmission is too long, he'll get a clear fix on us--and that will be that." "I'll risk that. _Will you?_" "No," Hammen said. "You're a fool out here in transmission. You don't know what you're doing. What do you expect of me?" "Link with me, Companion, as you should. Help me gain her knowledge." * * * * * Hammen knew that he was being asked to help gain access to information intended for the Federation authorities on Earth. But he rarely thought of himself as a Federal, and he knew very few worlds would allow extradition of him on a Federal charge. At the moment, he was mainly concerned with saving himself and his cargo from the Mindsnake. As distasteful as it was, Gordus was a part of his cargo, and a man had to have a few ideals. Gordus was not qualified to be a Companion after the generations of growth of the Mindsnake. He was only a pitiful fool now. (How long before the Snake gets so big I will not be qualified? How long before _no one_ is qualified? How long before the Snake comes out of null-space and stalks the planets?) Hammen shrugged and joined Gordus. They struck for the mind of the woman. Her name, they warned, Isodel. They found that out, and incredibly, more. In some way Gordus' mind paralleled the girl's. There was much of a kind about them, and Gordus could piece together the fragments of her identity. But then he was reaching down for something, and he prestidigitated it up and out of sight. Hammen realized that Gordus had succeeded in getting what he wanted and in keeping it from him. He was less of a doddering old fool than he appeared. "What was that?" Hammen demanded. "What did you take?" He tried to shake it loose from the coordinator.