"Out," said Sawyer thickly, his voice a hoarse croak. "Get out, fast—"
Arrin's voice cracked like a silver whiplash. "Yes, run. Because they're making you, because their minds are too much for you! Run, and let them have the Citadel, and when their fleet comes, let them have the Earth!"
That stopped them. The horror they felt at that thought surged up so strong that the frantic compulsion to flee lessened a little. But behind them, somewhere back in the corridors, they would be following....
Arrin raged and mocked them. "We saved you from the Ei two generations ago, when Ei ships had smashed your defenses and they were ready to move in. We moved in first, we've held them back, but now you've let them in! So run!"
"Good God!" said Sawyer, his face stricken. "Then it was all true, what you told us about the Ei. It was true all the time!"
Price did not, like the other Earthmen, have a lifetime's thinking to revise. He grabbed Arrin's shoulders.
"Can we face them?" he cried. "Can we kill them?"
"They can be killed," Arrin said. "Their minds can hold many—but not an unlimited number. If we all rush them, many of us, there is a chance...."
Price yelled down the corridors, "What are you running from? There's only two of them. We're going back! We're going to pull them down!"