Ten minutes passed and not a sound came from within.
"It's too quiet," Siggen said. "I don't like it."
Once in the palace Siggen called over one of his men. "Anything doing?" he asked.
"Nothing," the man replied. "The whole place seems deserted."
"What do we do now?" Siggen asked, turning to Ostby.
"We'll go upstairs. Magogar should be there."
"No," Ostby said. "I have a feeling that we won't need them."
Siggen and Ostby went slowly up the stairway. When they reached the room that housed the Brain, Ostby entered first.
"You timed it very well," a hollow voice greeted him, but it failed to catch Ostby's entire attention for he was looking down at a figure lying on the floor.
The figure was that of the Imperator, with a knife buried in his breast!
"Yes, he's dead," the hollow voice said, "and you killed him."
"I?" Ostby brought his attention up to the huge eye that gazed at him unwinking.
"You," the Brain answered. "Technically it's suicide. But when you defeated him in a test of strength, you killed him as surely as though you plunged the knife into his heart!"
"Then my work may be finished," Ostby said. He looked at the Brain with a question in his gaze.
"Yes," the Brain answered his unspoken question. "It is done. You were wise in deducing that I must use water to function, and thus would be exposed to the potion you placed in the palace water-duct. I'll never be able to open the 'door' again."
"I'm happy to hear that," Ostby said, letting his shoulders ease down. Only with the release did he realize the weight of the burden he had been carrying all these past months. "I hope it didn't harm you otherwise," he said.
"Not at all," the Brain answered. "You merely changed the pitch of a subtle brain resonance necessary for the opening of the 'door.' It is analogous to a growing boy's loss of the ability to sing tenor. His vocal cords are in no way injured when they grow too coarse to attain a certain pitch. But...."
"You know that you will never be able to return to Earth after this. And, as you are the nominal successor to Magogar, I presume you will take over the city's government?"
"You're wrong," Ostby replied unhesitatingly. "I have no slightest desire to be Imperator."
"If you don't there will be chaos in the city."