ication, no
life stands alone. And no viable life goes on without communication, I
shall shut off the Terran's communication."

"Then he will go rank staring, raving mad."

"No, for I shall offer him the alternative. Co-operate, or molder in
utter blankness."

Huvane shrugged. "Seems to me that any Terran locked in a duralim cell
so far from home the distance means nothing is already cut from
communication."

"Deeper, deeper, Huvane. The brain lies prisoner within a cell of bone.
Its contact with the Outside world lies along five channels of sensory
communication. Everything that the brain believes about the Universe is
the product of sensory information carried inward by sight, touch,
sound, taste and smell. From five basic bits of information, knowledge
of the Great Truth is formed through logic and self-argument.
Everything."

"But--"

"Oh, now stop. I am not expressing my own singular opinion. I believe a
rather great proportion of the things that I was taught, and I was
taught through the self-same five sensory channel."

"Um-m-m."

"Good. Just plain 'Um-m-m.' Now we shall shut off the Terran's channels
of communication until he consents as an alternative. This, Huvane,
hasn't been tried before. It may bring us the final important bit of
information."

* * * * *

Slowly the lights went out. Jerry Markham was prepared for dark
isolation, he could do nothing about it so he accepted it by the simple
process of assuring himself that things were going to get worse before
they got better.

The darkness became--absolute. Utter. Complete. Not even the dots and
whorls and specks that are technically called "Visual noise" occurred. A
level of mental alertness niggled at him; for nearly twenty-four years
it had been a busy little chunk of his mind. It was that section that
inspected the data for important program material and decided which was
trivial and which was worthy of the Big Boy's attention. Now it was out
of a job because there wasn't even a faint background count of
plateau-noise to occupy its attention.

The silence grew--vast. Brain said that the solid walls were no more
than ten feet from him; ears said that he was in the precise middle of
absolutely nowhere. Feeling said that the floor was under his feet, ears
said that upward pressure touched his soles. Deeper grew the deadening
of his ears, and orientation was lost. Feeling remained and he felt his
heart beating