I realized fully my terrible position--talking in black darkness with a madman who claimed that his parents came from Venus, that others were associated with him in some sinister undertaking here in the cavern, and that several other people had also been made prisoners, for what unholy purposes I could not guess. The darkness and the strength of my unwelcome host were against me. In despair, I was now certain that my only hope was to draw him out in “a little talk,” and perhaps thereby gain information to help me escape, or, by pretending to be very eager to help him, to insinuate myself into his good graces and catch him unaware at a favorable moment. “YOU tell me,” I said, as casually as possible, “that your visitors are allowed to see your work, but that before that event you prepare them by a little explanatory lecture here in the dark to better withstand the ‘shock.’ Would it be presumptuous of me to ask why it should be a shock to see you and your work?” “Not at all,” came the voice of Oomlag. “But before I do that, you should be enlightened further as to why you are here. In a way, you are our slave, in the sense at least, that you will be compelled by us to spend the next few years underground. However, if you cooperate with us as I believe you will, you will be well treated and allowed to roam around as you please. If, after things have been fully explained to you, you do not prove agreeable and refuse to help, I can only say that you will very soon change your mind. “Now, if you will be kind enough not to interrupt me, I shall give you a little discourse that you will probably not believe. No matter. You have all, being earth creatures, been most skeptical about what is, to your way of thinking, impossible. But at least try to follow me, and when you _do_ see us at work, you will be less apt to think it is all a dream or that you have lost your reason.