"What bomb?" Zen thought. With the question came the answer. Warned by Cuso that their preparations were probably known, the Asians had decided to launch their super bomb immediately. Turmoil came up inside Zen at this knowledge.
Real pain came from his finger tips as the torturers began operations again.
"Do you want to die?" the race mind whispered in his thoughts.
Although he couldn't contact it, the race field could reach him. "You have suffered all that is required. You have met the law. You may join me, if you wish."
"I—" Zen shut off his thinking. This was fantasy, the product of torture and nearing dissolution. His own imagination was tricking him, he thought.
"This is not your imagination," the answer came. "This is what you call the race mind."
"But—"
"How do you know? You don't. At this point, you have to accept me on faith." The thinking flowing smoothly into his mind went into silence, then came again, stronger than before. "Do you want to die? You have earned the right."
"No," Zen answered. He screamed the words again. "No. No!"
"The path before you will be difficult."