Every moment its internal energy was lessening. It seemed to want to talk. The beams of its eyes rolled wildly. It said:
"Tugh—did this—to me. I came back here frightened because I knew that Tugh still controlled me. You—hear me...."
There was a muffled, rumbling blur, then its voice clicked on again.
"When Tugh came I opened the door to him, even though the girl tried to stop me.... And I was humble before Tugh.... But he was angry because I had released you. He—deranged me. I tried to fight him, and he ripped open my side porte...."
I thought the mechanism had gone inert. From within it was complete silence. Larry murmured, "Good Lord, this is gruesome!"
Then the faint, rasping voice started again.
"Deranged me.... And about Tugh, he—" A blur. Then again, "Tugh—he is—Tugh, he is—"
It went into a dull repetition of the three words, ending in a rumble which died into complete silence. The red radiance from the eye-sockets faded and vanished.
The thing we had called Migul seemed gone. There was only this metal shell, cast to represent a giant human figure, lying here with its operating mechanisms out of order—smashed.