"How long will the air last?" wondered Xax.
"Longer than our bellies will stand the lack of food and drink. So this is the great tower of Zut. Sliding doors that imprison any who break a secret electri-beam. Zut! I'd thought better of the Ancient Ones. This is really too simple. Find the beam and send a current along it, and the doors'll open again."
Kortha swung on his heel, going down the hall and into the Science Chamber. Standing motionless on the threshold, he ran keen eyes into the huge chamber.
He chuckled. He laughed. Head flung back, he roared hoarse laughter to the trestled ceiling. He sobbed his delight, hands spread over his muscled loins, helpless with his mirth.
Xax clicked a question at him, impatient.
"It's Guantra," said Kortha when he could. "The fool. The utter fool. And he hopes to rule the Trinity. Look for yourself, Xax. Look at all these machines spread out before your eyes. The wealth of a planet is spread out for you. The greatest weapons the solar system has known are here. And Guantra has left them all!"
"How do you know Guantra has been here?"
"Down there. Observe the blacker spaces against the grey dust inches thick on the floor. Something rested there for ages, Xax. Gone now. Oh, Guantra was here, all right, probably with his entire science staff. They took two things away with them. Probably the simplest machines of the lot. Why did he leave the rest? Because the fools who man his science staff didn't know what in the world all these things are. Didn't know how to use them. Didn't have the slightest idea of what they are supposed to be. Zut, it's rich!"
"You may not know yourself," chided Xax.
"If I had the resources of a science staff, I'd damn soon find out," Kortha grunted, wiping moist eyes. "No wonder Guantra can come to power—when Mars has idiots for a population."