"I'll be damned if I will, you bloated monstrosity."
Ghuvek's globular eyes blinked slowly in surprise. "But—you're supposed to be under the power of the machine!" He turned his flat, batrachian head to glare at Captain Yknor. "Turn up the power!"
"Yes, Sire."
Yknor's thick claws wrenched up the dial and a surge of power thundered through Marten's brain without leaving an impression.
"Feels nice," he said. "Like an extra-special shampoo. But you wouldn't know what a shampoo is, would you?"
"Up higher!" Ghuvek snapped.
"That's as high as it goes, Sire."
Marten still sat there, sneering openly at the alien's attempts to read his brain. Ghuvek paced angrily around the seated Earthman without speaking.
"All right," he said finally. "Shut the machine off. Obviously, the Earthman's brain just does not respond." There was anger and more than a touch of surprise in his voice. "Take the brainprobe away."
"Yes, Sire."