"No ... you must not kill the man. The man will not harm you ... he is your friend. He will help you."
As I watched, the ants seemed to become less excited. From the larger of the two, I received the thought,
"We are dying. The man is killing us with his strong vibrations. We must kill the man."
Then a very powerful thought impression burst upon my brain.
It seemed to come from the colony, three feet away.
"Warning to the man. Stop your thought transmissions at once! Your vibrations are killing us. We want nothing from you. We have everything we need. You will learn nothing from us. You will stop at once!"
I threw the switch to "send." Viewed through the microscope, the two ants were lying on their backs ... dead, to all appearances.
"What if I don't stop?" I sent the thought question, "I want to learn the secret of your communication. In return, I will teach you many things. I can't stop now!"
I changed to receive, and the answer came back,
"If you do not stop ... we will kill you!"