Wilson produced a small metal case from which he extracted one of the long black cylinders.
"You will have to put it in my lips, please," murmured Dr. Ku. "Thank you. And a light? Again thanks. Ah...." He drew in the smoke, exhaled a fine stream of it from his delicately carved nostrils. "Good." Then he looked up pleasantly at the Hawk.
"And my congratulations to you, Captain. Not only on your expert maneuvering of my asteroid, but on everything: your resourcefulness, your decision, your caution. I have long admired these qualities in you, and the events of to-day, though for me perhaps unfortunate, increase my admiration. My own weak resistance, my attempt to frustrate your plans in connection with the brains—how miserable in comparison! It would seem, Captain, that you cannot fail, and that you will indeed succeed in giving the brains new life, so swiftly do you move. Yes, my congratulations!"
He drew at the cigarro, and the smoke wreathed gently around his ascetic saffron face. A faint, queer glint was visible under the long lashes that half-veiled his eyes as he continued:
"But I have a question, Captain. A mere nothing, but still—"
"Yes, Dr. Ku?"
"The living bodies into which you propose to transplant the brains—where are they?"
Hawk Carse's face was stern and his voice frigid as he answered:
"Fortunately, those bodies are right here on the asteroid."
"Here on the asteroid, Captain? I don't understand. What bodies are here?"