"Those figurines are old, Jimmy. They were carved during the days of the First Dynasty when the original canal locks were built. Today there's practically none left. Yet without pxar the canal project is doomed to failure.
"Now pick up one of the figurines and examine its base. Do you see that tiny three-cornered prong that projects from it? Like a root, a stunted root reaching out for nourishment."
The girl's voice became breathless. "Jimmy, that was your father's secret. He spent the last days of his life deciphering the Lost Chronicles, and for years it has been my work too. You see, chemical analysis has proved that under certain conditions pxar will grow and reproduce its own kind. The early Martians knew this, and they also knew that the time would come when there would be no more of it available. So they designed those figurines to be superimposed on the bodies of living Martians. The root-claw would then reach down, embed itself in the flesh and suck out the vital life."
"I—I don't understand," Jimmy said slowly.
"Let me put it this way. If the base of one of those figurines is fastened to the body of a Martian, the root will adhere to that body, and the figurine will become a living parasite, growing and developing in size, until amoeba-like, it will divide into two.
"Jimmy, there's a monstrous plot brewing here on Mars. Your father discovered that secret and realized it was so deadly he meant to lock it away forever in the files of the Interplanetary Council. But before he could do that, he was murdered and the incomplete cyphers stolen. Those cyphers have now been worked out. Someone has made plans to sell an enormous quantity of pxar to the development company that's building the canal locks. They're going to create that pxar by feeding those figurines and thousands like them off the bodies of unsuspecting Martians."
"But how?" Jimmy interjected.
"I don't know how. Not yet, though I've been piecing the threads of this puzzle together for weeks now. It wasn't until five days ago that I was able to decipher completely the code of the Chronicles. I did know that your father was working on the cypher, too, because he and I frequented the same libraries, but it was only by accident that I discovered that that cypher was the reason behind his murder.
"Once started, the pxar plot will be a plague, a Martian black death. Once started, those figurines will multiply and grow. And here's the damnable part of it, Jimmy. After a certain number of the figurines have been given life, they will also acquire self mobility. Do you understand? It means that they will spread, advance from the body of one Martian to another of their own accord. That's the black revelation of the Chronicles—the fact that this plague happened on this planet once before, was responsible for the complete extinction of the first dynasty Martians."