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.Some instinct within him was trying to warn himdanger but it was not until he had stopped before the snake and breathed the heavy,nauseating odor of it that the spell broke.Snake!Men did not walk up to snakes as a hypnotized sparrow might dobut he had just done so.He saw the intelligence in the snake's eyes for what it was, then; a cold,alien appraisal of him with the same objective detachment with which anentomologist might inspect an insect.It had not moved and there was no threatin its manner, other than the alienness of it and the way it had drawn him soirresistibly to it, but that was warning enough.He let his hand slide to hiship pocket and grasp the hard butt of the pistol, not drawing it but wantingit ready should he need it.Until, and if, the snake made a threatening move,he would try to question it.It very obviously was not of Earth and to kill itfirst then ask questions later would be both uninformative and stupid.Itmight intend him no harm; he would wait and see and keep his hand on thepistol.It would most likely be from another planet of the solar system.He could drawa diagram of the solar system in the sandthere were no humans near but for Gwen at the cabin and find out which planet it came from.Venus should be the one, the secondfrom the sunshe should be along in a few minutesHe stopped, suddenly aware of the random thoughts.His mind spoke another one:She would be after watercress and would not be armed as he wasHe cut the thought off with the chilling realization that the snake wasquestioning him.It could be nothing else.As the source of a motor nerve,when touched in an exposed brain, will make the corresponding muscle twitch,so the snake was questioning him; touching with its mind at the proper memorycells, exciting the desired memory responses.The snake-thing wanted both him and Gwen.Why?The implications of the question broke the hypnosis and the warning instinctscreamed frantically: Kill itwhile you can!His arm jerked to whip the pistol from his pocket and froze.His entire bodywas abruptly as motionless and powerless as though locked in a vice.He couldnot move he had heeded the warning too late.* * *"The biped has an intelligence of the first order," Sesnar reported."Itbecame aware of my control before I had completed the questioning andPage 181 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlattempted to kill me the moment it realized my intentions.Iput it under full control before it could harm me, of course.""Determine its full resistance to questioning while under muscular control,"Eska ordered.His entire body from the neck down was separated from the control of hisbrain.He was standing before the snake and could see it watching him, smellthe odor of it; he was normal and the sensory nerves were functioning asalways.He could feel the weight of the pistol in his pocket and his fingerscould feel the butt of it as they held it half drawn from the pocket.Thesensory nerves were functioning normally but his commands to his muscles werebeing cut off.His mind could formulate the commandsand try to send them with all its power but nothing happened.Somewhere in hisbrain where the pure thought was transformed into a neural impulse, the snakehad seized control.At that relay station his own commands were being cut offand the snake's commands substituted.* * *He had made a grave mistake; he had underestimated his opponent.He hadreached for the pistol with his mind wide open, with his intention plain therefor the snake to read.He should have kept the thought subdued, should havecovered it over with other, stronger, thoughts.He had learned alesson perhaps it would not be too late.Physically he was helpless but hismind was still his own.His only resistance to the snake would have to bemental for the time being.In the end, if he made no more mistakes, he mightwin the game of wits and kill it before it killed him and Gwen.A question came from the snake's mind, not the touching at the memory cells asbefore but a direct question."What is the percentage of uranium in the ore samples at your dwelling?"It was, he realized, a test of his ability to withstand questioning.The snakewould not care what the percentage might be it was a test, the first won."Why do you want to know?" he asked.The snake's answer was to touch quickly at the memory cells where theinformation lay and to repeat over and over:The percentage the percentageThree point one four one five nine, he thought rapidly, and multiply by thediameter and you have the circumference
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