"I get it. It's a sort of thought-amplifier."
"Right. The Khethlani shows us how to build it—but he can't do it himself. We're like his arms and legs. He works through us. It's a tremendous job."
"How far have you gotten?"
"Just the framework," Gendron said. "That's why we're sending out that wide-beam SOS. We need all the extra hands we can get. You're the third one so far."
"Neat. Only it almost didn't work on me."
"I still don't understand that. You resisted incredibly well. But you couldn't stand up to the Khethlani face-to-face."
"No," Carter said. "Of course not."
"Here we are," said Gendron. "This is what we've done on the thought-generator so far."
He opened another door, and Carter saw a large room almost completely filled with a complex webwork of machinery. Half a dozen Earthmen were working busily in the far corner, soldering delicate wires together and assembling an array of transistors.
"It's a long, slow, tough job," said Gendron. "The Khethlani's guiding us every step of the way."