"Good Lord!" exclaimed Miles, "I must be seeing things!"
"Where is Solino?" demanded the voice in strangely accented English.
Ward saw that the question came from an individual in a wheelchair a few feet in front of them.
"Solino is dead," he answered.
"Dead?" A ripple of sound came from the oddly seated men.
"Yes, the submarine car was wrecked in the tunnel, and everyone aboard was killed save us two."
The hairless men looked at one another. "This is Spiro's work," said one of them, still in English; and another said, "Yes, Spiro has done this."
Miles and Ward were recovering somewhat from their initial astonishment. "What place is this?" asked the former.
"This is Apex — or, rather, the Palace of the Heads in Apex."
The Palace of the Heads! The two Americans tried to control their bewilderment.