"Of course," Thone responded. "We will destroy Brutar's encampment, himself and all his followers. Rather should I say, we will force them to stop replenishing—and Nature will destroy."
Then Will said, "Let me ask you this: I understand that if you, with your weaving of the net of thoughts, are quicker, more powerful than I, you will beat down my resistance. Entrap me; force my body to follow you."
"Or to depart from me," Thone added. "I could force you back—as far from me as I could spin the net."
"I was thinking—suppose we must fight them in the Borderland—"
"A combat at once physical and mental," Thone retorted. He smiled. "You think we are ill-prepared, Will? That is not so. My men of Science have studied this condition—experimented with it very fully. The Borderland—the transition into your Earth-state—all such things are new to us. But we are coming to understand them. And I think that Brutar's people know little of their subject...."
He paused in contemplation; then went on slowly. "We are not sure how permanent may be the transition by the lolos-blood into the state of your Earth-matter. Brutar may be mistaken in that—"
He paused again. His smile had a gleam of irony; and there came into his voice an ironic note. "I am not sure but that from the Borderland, our opposing thoughts might not reach your Earth-state. They might, perhaps, do strange things to those of Brutar's people who have reached there—who have taken with them what they may think are effective weapons."
That Thone had learned, or divined much of Brutar's purpose, and that he was prepared to combat it, was evident. But at the moment he chose to speak no further. He added abruptly, "My Thinkers are organized. Very soon they will be ready. The mind, my friend Will, grows strong only with use. Every moment that they can, they are developing the strength of battle.... Come here and see."
They passed upward upon the side of the globe; and at once its opaque wall began to glow; become translucent; transparent, until through it Will saw the city. An open space, from this angle seemingly tilted on end, was nearby. Within it a horde of shapes were squatting. Figures which after a moment of inspection seemed men—gaunt of body, but with craniums distended. A horde—a myriad; Will could not have guessed at their number. Squatting in a giant spiral curving inward to its center point. From the heads of them all light was streaming. It spun in a band close over them; whirled, flashed with iridescent color. A spiral band of light, concentrating at the center point into a beam that shot away and was lost in the darkness.