"I told Torkine," the Physical said, "that he might see you when you recovered. Blair will bring you now." Its feet turned. With little precision steps it marched out and vanished in the dim corridor.
I stared at Johnny, and now suddenly he gripped me. "We'll have to go," he murmured swiftly. "Listen, we'll be landing in an hour or two—this may be the last chance I have to talk to you alone. I been tryin' to get away from this accursed thing for six months now. Escape—I want to get back to Earth."
"And you couldn't?"
"Good God, no. Wait 'til you understand the—the monster better. It's got all us humans trapped. Helpless. Sometimes it treats us kindly—it's got its own ideas about building up a world of humans, for it to rule. But when you make it mad, the wrath of the monster is horrible!"
His words were making me shudder. "You have a wife," I murmured. "Where is she?"
"She's dead," he said. His voice went drab. "Eight months ago, by Earth-time, I guess it was. She—she displeased the Supreme One, and so it killed her. Four of the Physicals just—just grabbed her arms and legs and they pulled until she—she came apart!"
His voice trailed away. I could only stand with my hand on his shoulder, staring mutely at him as I shuddered. Then he was leading me along the corridor which ran like the spoke of a wheel toward the center of the disc-shaped vehicle.
"What I was saying," he went on in his swift murmur. "Torkine and those fifty men of his convict band—I wouldn't trust a damn one of them. The monster likes Torkine, so he's the boss of us humans. But Torkine is planning something murderous. I've been sure of that for quite a while. And this fellow Bragg is married to a girl we got from Mars. Her name's Setta. She's all right."
His voice sank even lower as he stopped in the corridor and gripped me. "Listen, I've seen your girl Dora—Setta's been taking care of her. I hope the Supreme One decides to marry you to her. But I wouldn't count on it. I've seen Torkine and Bragg both lookin' at her pretty queer. She's a damn sweet-lookin' girl."
My heart was pounding. "Johnny, look here; you say you want to escape, get back to Earth?"