She was there. Her body was there, thin and erect in the crimson tunic. Her black hair was still wild around her small brown face. But Mouse, the Mouse that Ciaran knew, was dead behind her dull black eyes. Ciaran whispered, "Mouse...."
The slaves flowed in and held the two of them, clogged in a mass of unresponsive bodies.
"Can't you free them, Bas?"
"Not yet. Not now. There isn't time."
"Can't you do with them what you did with the Kalds?"
"The androids control their minds through hypnosis. If I fought that control, the struggle would blast their minds to death or idiocy. And there isn't time...." There was sweat on his smooth young forehead. "I've got to get through. I don't want to kill them...."
Ciaran looked at Mouse. "No," he said hoarsely.
"But I may have to, unless.... Wait! I can channel the power of the Stone through my own brain, because there's an affinity between us. Vibration, cell to cell. The androids won't have made a definite command against music. Perhaps I can jar their minds open, just enough, so that you can call them with your harp, as you called me."
A tremor almost of pain ran through the boy's body.
"Lead them away, Ciaran. Lead them as far as you can. Otherwise many of them will die. And hurry!"