"That's pure psychosis, Gordus!"
"Is it? Watch how easily I begin to grow. I have the woman's mind now."
It was true.
The poor, mad genius woman was gone.
"Stop it, Coordinator. You don't know what you're doing!"
Hammen tried to reach him.
"That's it, that's it. Come ahead, my boy. I'm becoming a Mindsnake. Now I am a Mindsnake. Come ahead. Let me swallow you next."
"You fool," Hammen broadcast. "You are the Mindsnake now. Don't you think anyone's ever wanted power before? Won't you let yourself remember how it was when you were a Companion? This is how it always happens. You've let yourself be swallowed by the Snake. You ran right into its jaws."
"No." Gordus thought furiously. "I—"
And the Snake digested the tiny egg in its gullet and "I" blurred and was washed over by "All."