Sidney Bounds - The Robot Brains.

Fox felt better.

"Then there is a chance," he said: "If Christian is alive, maybe he will escape and bring us the information that we need."

"I hope so," said the Old Man.

Christian was in a very large hall with a high ceiling and no windows. He had an impression that he was deep underground.

In the walls of the hall there were some doors through which he could see long corridors. The central part of the hall was occupied by a big construction with ladders and balconies. Two Brains stood near a large switchboard with red and green lights. The sides of the construction were covered with black crystals.

The crystals were placed in pairs. From time to time a Brain appeared from nowhere and put his black crystal into the construction, and then a red light on the switchboard turned into green. Sometimes another Brain took the crystal from the construction and fastened it to his belt. Then he touched the crystal and disappeared.

Christian understood that this construction was a kind of transmitter, with the help of which the Brains got to the earth and disappeared from it.

He wanted to jump to his feet and break the machine… but two Brains armed with decapitators were guarding him. The crystal, with the help of which he had got into that hall, was taken from his belt and put into the transmitter.

He began to wonder where he was.

Was he still on the earth but underground? Or was it another planet? Or maybe, he was on board a spaceship?

He decided that he must wait and learn all he could.

A woman came from one of the corridors. It was a very strange woman. She had long blond hair and was very beautiful. But she was at least nine feet tall.

She came up to Christian and said something very quickly, but Christian did not understand her. A Brain answered her, and she laughed. Then she bent and easily lifted Christian with one hand. She looked at him a few seconds, then lost interest and dropped him to the floor, like a child drops a doll.

She turned away and left the hall.

Christian stood up.

"We meet again, Captain Christian…"

It was Waldo's voice. And, indeed, the Brain was standing near Christian.

"Do you begin to understand now?" asked Waldo. "No? Well, it doesn't matter. You will never leave this place. You will die, but not easily…"

He called two other Brains who came up and stood on both sides of Christian, holding their decapitators ready.

"Follow me," said Waldo and went along one of the corridors.

Christian walked after him.

They walked along the corridor, sometimes crossing other corridors. On the side of the corridor there were cells in which Christian saw Brains and giant women. Finally they stopped near an empty cell.

"You can live here for some time," said Waldo. "Food will be brought to you. You are free to go anywhere, except back to the transmitter hall. If you try to get there, you will be immediately killed. I shall return later."

Christian was left alone in the cell. The cell was about ten feet in diameter. There was a chair and a low table. Christian sat down. The chair was very comfortable.

In a few minutes a giant woman brought a tray with food and water. The food was not very tasty, but Christian was hungry and ate it all.

He tried to speak to the giant woman, but she did not answer him.

Some other giant women come to look at him. They pointed at him and laughed, but the look in their eyes told Christian that they had very little intelligence.

In the days that followed Christian walked along the corridor, where he sometimes met Brains and giant women. He noticed that they spoke a language which was very much like English, but still it was very difficult for him to understand them. Sometimes he tried to ask them where he was, but they never answered him.

One day he was standing in the corridor near his cell waiting for the giant woman who always brought him food. Suddenly he saw another woman who was running very quickly towards him. Some other women were running after her and beating her with metal whips.

The woman jumped into Christian's cell and stopped at the far wall. At that moment Waldo appeared in the corridor.

"You are a fool to interfere," he said to Christian. "Let them do what they like." He looked around the cell. "Do they give you enough food? Are you all right?" he asked.

"I am all right." replied Christian.

Waldo rubbed his hands and smiled. "Excellent, excellent," he said. "Not long now, you won't have long to wait…"

He walked away. His smile reminded Christian of a cat playing with a mouse.

The giant woman brought Christian his food. When she saw the woman in his cell, she said something to her and called her "Alma." Then she went away.

Alma quickly took some food from the tray and ate it.

"You can eat all of it if you like, Alma," said Christian, and she ate some more and drank the water. Christian tried to speak to her, but she did not answer, and soon ran out of his cell and along the corridor.

Christian thought about Alma. It was clear that she was very hungry and afraid. But why? Why did the other women run after her and beat her?

He decided to walk along the corridors in the direction in which Alma had run away.

As he was walking, the corridor was getting wider and wider. At last he could not see the walls. It was already not a corridor, but a large underground cave.

Everywhere there was tall grass. It was hot and wet. The grass was becoming thicker and taller, it was like a grass jungle.

Suddenly Waldo walked up to him.

"A man can hide here," said the Brain.

"Or a woman…"

"Or a woman," Waldo agreed and laughed. "You are quite right, Captain - Alma is somewhere here."

Christian did not want to talk to him and walked away, back to the corridor.

When he was going along the corridor in the direction of his cell, he noticed that many Brains were standing at the walls of the corridor and looking at him. Instinct told him that his time was running out…

He saw a group of giant women walking towards him. They were all carrying metal whips with which they had attacked Alma. One of them gave a command, and they ran to him with loud shouts, waving their metal whips.

Christian turned and ran. The Brains were standing along the walls and laughing. He ran as fast as he could. He reached the grass jungle and ran into the tall grass.

He was running through the thick tall grass and heard laughing and shouting behind him.

He was breathing hard. He began to understand how an animal feels during the hunt. He was running and changing directions, but he heard that the Brains were surrounding him on all sides. He stumbled and fell. When he raised his head, he saw Waldo standing over him.

"You were running well, Captain," said the Brain, "but this is the end!"

He raised his weapon -

Something lifted Christian. He looked up and saw a giant figure. Alma! She threw him over her shoulder and jumped into the green jungle. She did it so quickly, that Waldo had no time to shoot.

Alma was running very fast, and soon the cries of the hunters died away.

She stopped near a huge old tree, about twenty feet across, and put Christian down on the grass.

"We can hide inside this tree," she said. "Get in."

Christian got after her into the hollow trunk. Alma sat down on the grass that was on the bottom.

"You are safe here," she said.

"Thanks," said Christian. "Thanks for saving my life."

He was looking at her and thinking what questions to ask her.

Suddenly Alma said: "Why do you use the archaic language?" Can't you speak properly?"