Again the Kralons conferred, then the question came: "How do we know that we can trust you?"
"Why not?" asked Jackson. "I have everything to gain and nothing to lose by cooperating with you."
After another short conference, the Voder said: "We find your terms acceptable, and you will be returned to the stockade as if you had been apprehended in the Hive."
Just then, warning gongs sounded brazenly in the conference room, and violet lights flashed a signal above the entry. The Kralons clacked furiously to each other for a moment, then scurried from the room, leaving the smaller guide to escort Jackson back to the stockade.
Back in the Incubator Room, Doctor Gerard watched in fascination the havoc his actions were producing.
Under the increased intensity of the heating elements and infra-red tubes which normally warmed the Kralon eggs to incubation temperature, disaster was slowly occurring.
The Doctor's handiwork on the dials of the control panel had apparently inactivated the thermostatic controls, and now the eggs were bathed in vicious radiation overtaxed tubes and scorched by overloaded elements. The Doctor was literally cooking the Kralon eggs!
He knew that his interference had set off warning gongs and signal lights, so he discreetly turned from the room and down the main corridor.
When he was halfway to the Hive entrance he heard the metallic clatter of Kralon mandibles ahead of him. He spotted an open panel across the hall, stepped inside and touched the stud which closed the panel.