Once he interrupted, with, "But it was Hurlgut who sent men to kill me in the tower of Zut?"
Ilse scorned that, "Hurlgut send men? Who on Mars would serve a cripple when Guantra rules the fleets? Would Hurlgut hide in Ruuzol if he could put his banners in the air?"
When she was through, he whispered through stiff lips, "This psychoanalyser. It changes men, then?"
"Guantra changed several men in council positions with it. He needed their support. He got it. It can make a brave man a craven; or a coward, a hero. It was built by the Ancients, who understood the mind as well as other sciences. They realized that the memory cells that govern many of our habits and thoughts could be altered by hypnotically suggested alterations. They built a machine that would do that. We learned of it, but could never do anything about it. People would have laughed, said we fought Guantra with myths."
Kortha growled, "I'm still not sure. But I'll fight Guantra until I can make up my own mind!"
Ilse's lips twitched wryly. Her shoulders sagged a little as she leaned against a table, looking up at him.
"Fight Guantra? Here in Ruuzol? You are mad, Kortha. There isn't a single gun in Ruuzol. No weaponry of any sort. It can't defend itself; was never intended to. This mesa is one mass of radio laboratories and generators, tubes and condensors."
No weapon. No gun. Just a lot of magnifones, and words never killed anybody yet. Kortha bared his teeth in a silent snarl.
"I'll broadcast before he can stop me. Let him fire on us, then!"
"No. He won't fire, not yet. Have you forgotten the lightning guns? They will cripple all our power. We couldn't broadcast past those metal mountains without power."