ank out
our control completely, taking over the direction of our ship!

We crowded around the forward porthole and peered out. Somewhere, far
ahead, was our destination. And at our destination some creature of vast
mental power was aware of our presence. Was forcing us to come to it. We
were all aware of that without speaking.

Suddenly Lahoma began to laugh hysterically. The insane noise shattered
the silence with painful abruptness. I grabbed her by the shoulders and
shook her. Her laughter changed to sobs.

And now the acceleration of the ship had become so great that it was
hard to stand erect. The rubber soles of our shoes was all that kept us
from sliding to the stern of the ship.

Lahoma got hold of herself by a tremendous effort, and shook off my arm
which I had placed around her to keep her from falling.

"Look," she said to us, "maybe there isn't any super intelligence
sucking us into outer space. Maybe it's our own thoughts. I don't know
how the rest of you have been feeling, but for several days now I have
had a fear of outer space that has been growing simply terrific.
Something like the fear of falling as you look over the edge of a cliff.
Could that have anything to do with what's going on?"

"Maybe that's it!" Jud exclaimed. "We don't know half enough about this
stuff. It could be that such a fear would make it do the very thing
feared."

As if in answer, the ship stopped accelerating.

"That MUST be it!" Mallory shouted.

"We have a clue I hadn't thought of," Jud added. Looking at me he went
on, "When you think of a chicken with its head being wrung, what thought
goes with it?"

"Why," I hesitated, "I think of a swell chicken dinner."

"I think of how awful it is to kill!" Jud exclaimed. "It doesn't react
to the idea but to the emotion."

We experimented from that basis--without result. The tellecarbon was in
complete revolt. It paid no attention to us.

* * * * *

Two more days and we had to admit we were licked. Jud voiced what we had
all begun to suspect.

"The tellecarbon must have developed a mind of its own," he said
dispiritedly. "We should have taken that into account. It reacts to
thought, so undoubtedly it has a few of the properties of the mind. What
we must try to do now is reason with it--try to find out why it has
become uncooperative. Let's all concentrate on that question and direct
it at the tellecarbon and see what happens."

We tried