“Radio?” Geo said.
“That’s right,” Hama said. “Oh, I forgot. You don’t know anything about that at all. I can’t go through the whole thing now. Suffice it to say, each of the jewels contains a carefully honed crystal that is constantly sending out beams that can detect these thought patterns. Also the crystal acts both as a magnifying glass and a mirror, and reflects and magnifies the energy from the brain into heat or light or any other kind of electromagnetic radiation — there I go again — so that you can send great bolts of heat with them, as you have seen done.
“But the actual workings of them are not important. And their ability to send heat out is only their secondary power. Their primary import is that they can be used to penetrate the mind. Now we come to the lizards.”
“Wait a minute,” Geo said. “Before we get to the lizards. Do you mean they go into minds like Snake does?”
The god went on. “Like Snake,” he said. “But different. Snake was born with the ability to transmute the brain patterns of his thoughts to others; in that, he has a power something like the jewels, but nowhere as strong. But with the jewels, you can jam a person’s thoughts — ”
“Just go into his mind and stop him from thinking?” asked Iimmi.
“No,” said the god. “Conscious thought is too powerful. Otherwise, you would stop thinking every time Snake spoke to you. It works another way. How many reasons does a man have for any single action?”
They looked at him uncomprehendingly.
“Why, for example, does a man pull his hand from a fire?”
“Because it hurts,” said Urson. “Why else?”
“Yes, why else?” asked Hama.
“I think I see what you mean,” said Geo. “He also pulls it out because he knows that outside the fire his hand isn’t going to hurt. Like the bird, I mean the lizard. One reason we reacted as we did was because it sounded like a bird. The other reason was because we wanted to hear a bird just then. The man pulls his hand out because the fire hurts, and because he wants it not to hurt.
“In other words,” Geo summarized, “there are at least two reasons for everything.”
“Exactly,” explained Hama. “Notice that one of these reasons is unconscious. But with the jewel, you can jam the unconscious reason, so that if a man has his hand in a fire, you can jam his unconscious reason of wanting it to stop hurting. Completely bewildered and in no less pain, he will stand there until his wrist is a smoking nub.”
Geo reached over and felt his severed arm.
“Dictators during the entire history of this planet have used similar techniques. By not letting the people of their country know what conditions existed outside their boundaries, they could get the people to fight to stay in those conditions. It was the old adage: Convince a slave that he’s free, and he will fight to maintain his slavery. Why does a poet sing? Because he likes music and because silence frightens him. Why does a thief steal? To get the goods from his victim; also to deprive his victim of them.”
“That’s how Argo got Snake back,” Geo said to Urson. “I see now. He was just thinking of running away, and she jammed his desire not to get caught; so he had nothing to tell him in which direction to run. So he ran where she told him, straight back to her.”
“That’s right,” Hama said. “But something else was learned when these jewels were invented. Or rather a lesson history should have taught us thousands of years ago was finally driven home. No man can wield absolute power over other men and still retain his own mind. For no matter how good his intentions are when he takes up the power, his alternate reason is that freedom, the freedom of other people and ultimately his own, terrifies him. Only a man afraid of freedom would want this power or could conceive of wielding it. And that fear of freedom will turn him into a slave of this power. For this reason, the jewels are evil. That is why we have summoned you to steal them from us.”
“To steal them from you?” asked Geo. “Why couldn’t you have simply destroyed them when you had them?”
“We have already been infected.” The god smiled. “We are a small number here on Aptor. To reach this state of organization, to collect the scattered scientific knowledge of the times before the Great Fire, was not easy. Too often the jewels have been used and abused, and now we cannot destroy them. We would have to destroy ourselves first. We kidnapped Argo and left you the second jewel, hoping that you would come after the third and last one. Now you have come, and now the jewel is being stolen.”
“Snake?” asked Geo.
“That’s right,” replied Hama.
“But I thought he was your spy,” Geo said.
“That he is our spy is his unconscious reason for his actions,” explained Hama. “He is aware only that he is working against the evil he has seen in Jordde. ‘Spy’ is too harsh a word for him. Say, rather, little thief. He became a spy for us quite unwittingly when he was on the Island as a child with Jordde. I have explained something to you of how the mind works. We have machines that can duplicate what Snake does in a similar way that the jewels work. This is how the blind priestesses contacted Jordde and made him their spy. This is how we reached Snake. But he never saw us, never even really talked to us. It was mainly because of something he saw, something he saw when he first got here.”
“Wait a minute,” Iimmi said. “Jordde wanted to kill me, and he did kill Whitey, because of something we saw here. Was it the same thing? And what was it?”
Hama smiled. “My telling you would do no good. Perhaps you can find out from Snake or my daughter, Argo Incarnate.”
“But what do we do now?” Geo interrupted. “Take the jewels back to Argo? I mean Argo on the ship. She’s already used the jewels to control minds, at least Snake’s, so that means she’s ‘infected’ too.”
“Once, you guessed the reason for her ‘infection,’ ” said Hama. “We have been watching you on our screens since you landed. Do you remember what the reason was?”
“Do you mean her being jealous of her daughter?” Geo asked.
“Yes. On one side her motives were truly patriotic for Leptar. On the other hand they were selfish ones of power seeking. But without the selfish ones, she would have never gotten so far as she did. You must bring young Argo back and give the infection a chance to work itself out.”
“But what about the jewels?” asked Geo. “All three of them will be together. Isn’t that a huge temptation?”
“Someone must meet this temptation and overcome it,” said Hama. “You do not know the danger they create while they are here in Aptor.”
Hama turned to the screen and pushed a switch to the on position. The opaque glass filled with a picture of the interior of the Temple. On the great statue, a spotlight followed two microscopic figures over the statue’s shoulder. They climbed over the statue’s elbow.
Hama increased the size. The two made their way along the statue’s forearm to the golden stalks of wheat in the god’s black fist. One after the other they shimmied down the stem. At the base they climbed over the rail. The view enlarged again.
“It’s Snake!” said Geo.
“And he’s got the jewel!” Urson added.
“That’s Argo with him,” Iimmi put in. “I mean…one of the Argos!” They gathered around the screen to watch the congregation give way before the frightened children. Argo held on to Snake’s shoulder.
Suddenly Hama turned the picture off. They looked away from the screen, puzzled. “So you see,” said the god, “the jewel has been stolen. For the sake of Argo and of Hama, carry the jewels back to Leptar. Young Argo will help you. Though we here are pained to see her go, she is as prepared for the journey as you are, if not more. Will you do it?”