told himself. I was wrong. He can't be telepathic, or he
wouldn't bother to keep us alive after he's combed our brains.

"Couldn't he have some physical use for you all?" said the instinct.

Get thee behind me, Satan, he growled in his mind.

He opened the door of the room he was seeking.

Where to start? One wall was banked with books; never mind them. Another
wall was covered with strange-looking projections, tubes and spouts and
wheels and levers, behind a long table of plastikoid. There? Good
enough.

He had a momentary pang as he picked up a spanner from the rack of tools
by the door....

Then he was across the room and smashing wildly at levers, spouts, wall
tanks, faucets; beating metal into scrap, crushing shining aluminum to
scarred uselessness; he did not rest his arm until the whole wall was a
ruin of beaten metal and broken glass. Then he turned his attention to
the third wall.

Here was a giant turntable, rack on rack of shellacked alloy discs,
mysterious-appearing charts and cabalistic signs. These he wrecked as
methodically and ruthlessly as he had the first, but now there were
tears glistening in his eyes. He ended the destruction with a moan of
sorrow.

He paused to snap on the intercom. Pink's worry-lined face appeared.
"How'm I doing?" Jerry asked his captain.

"Great so far. Calico is crying like a child."

"I have news for you," Jerry said. "So am I." Then he turned to the last
wall. Before it spread a long array of mechanical devices: large boxes
on spindly legs, with glassed tops and brilliant colors splashed across
their surfaces; taller, narrower cases with crooked levers and
viewplates on which were small designs and words. There was a kind of
double cage with tiny cubes therein. There were great wheels with many
numbers. Almost all were attached to the wall by electric cords, though
some were entirely mechanical and others ran on self-generated power.
Jerry began at one end and passed down the line, shattering glass and
snapping wooden legs with his spanner.

He had almost finished when the door burst open and the tall humanoid
form of the stranger appeared. A blast of rage almost lifted Jerry off
his feet. The being came at him, its motion a flowing tigerish pounce.
The spanner was twitched from his hand flung across the room. He backed
against the wall, bloating with fear in spite of himself. The creature
swelled above him.

"Whoreson knave!" it bawled angrily. "What are you d