“So? And likewise the ‘insects’ are the impossible extensions of this impossible intelligence.” He shrugged. “Had you asked me yesterday were it possible, I think I would have said no. But—I have to try; and this I find—that the flow of thoughts makes possible in a few hours what would take years were mere words employed. Perhaps this being’s case was a relatively simple one, you think?—I do not know … But, as you did see, freed of the psychosis, the creature is able to continue his journey.”
“Madness, di Cesare!”
“Perhaps. Come, old friend. Let us salvage what we can of the night’s sleep. I have the weakness of a kitten. And tomorrow you must help me construct a tale to tell the skeptics.”
He shuddered. “This is one case history I can submit to my colleagues never, I fear. Ah, but how the good Freud would have relished an account of Oedipal fixation in a beast from the distant stars! Another sip of the brandy, friend Starbuck. And perhaps it is best that you operate the car. Di-Cesare has given aid to a mind far more powerful than his own, caro, and it will be many hours before he is himself again!”