"Yes. When you mentioned 'ants'. The word reminded me of a dim thought I had been trying all day to recapture, without success. It reminded me of—Antaeus."
"Aunty who?"
"Antaeus. You'll find his story in the folk-tales of our mother planet, Earth. Hercules, while engaged on his famous 'Labors' met this giant in mortal combat. Antaeus was a son of Mother Earth, and from her he derived his tremendous strength. Each time Hercules felled him, he grew larger. At last the hero discovered Antaeus' secret, and overcame him by lifting him completely above his head. Antaeus then dwindled ... as did our own Colossus...."
"Comets!" gaped Bud. "That's exactly what happened? But why?"
"Because," explained his friend, "Colossus devoured not food, as we do—but energy! Raw, radiant energy. Titan not only fed him ... it gave him a banquet! The storage-battery which is this planet—"
"Eh?" interrupted Colonel Graham, startled. "What's that, Captain? Storage-battery?"
"Yes, Colonel. That is the secret of Titan, the secret Grossman learned and hoped to capitalize on after he had frightened or forced all other Earthmen ... including the Space Patrol ... off this globe.
"Titan is not simply a world ... it is a gigantic storage-battery! Its 'acid seas' and 'metallic mountains' are a parallel of the simple voltaic cell. The mysterious 'T-radiation' is nothing more nor less than constantly reversing polarity on a gigantic scale. Humans are destroyed by it for the same reason they die in an electric chair. Titanians can endure it because they are endowed with the physical characteristic of being 'poor conductors.'
"Colossus fed on this steady stream of current, and in him electrical energy transmuted into matter. How, we do not know ... nor will we ever, now ... unless some day another of Colossus' race is cast by the tides of time upon the shores of one of our solar planets...."
"Which," whispered Bud, "God forbid! Well, it just goes to show you, everything happens for the best, doesn't it? I mean, if you hadn't masqueraded as a Doctor of Mythology so we could trap Grossman and shove him into clink, like he now is—"