Think of
it, O Beneficence! No need had we of clumsy, metal vessels. But all that
has changed. Now no whirr of wings disturbs the air, and our
formi-tectural splendors rise _within_. The history of this change is
what Your Supreme Exaltation would know. This, then, is the record.

With the rule of Palladin was born the age of science, not so much due
to the intellects of that day, as through the driving urge of ultimate
necessity. For Palladin had a brother, Thid. He was unfortunately a
mutant. Whereas our features were delicate and quite regular, Thid's
were gross and stamped with power. His royal head was too large and
cumbersome, and instead of our slender waists, he was almost
asymmetrical in shape. In short--no member of our fairer, royal sex
could look upon him with aught but horror. And it was because of this
that he was dietetically conditioned for the realm of science.

It was a mistake. As the years passed, the loneliness of his virtual
exile tended to derange Thid's prodigious mind! Aye, prodigious--and
dangerous in his manic-depressive state. Then one day Palladin called an
emergency meeting of the Inner Council. I, Braanol, was a member of that
Council.

"It has come to my attention," Palladin said, "that Thid has been
carrying on certain dangerous experiments! Experiments of a sort that
could well be inimical to us--to our very existence!"

We well knew to what Palladin referred. But Thid was his brother, one of
the Imperial ones. No one dared speak.

"Why was I not made aware of it sooner?" Palladin demanded sternly.
"You, Braanol! You knew of it?"

"Yes, your majesty." I was frightened. "I beg to explain--I have tried
to dissuade him--"

Palladin's visage became less stern, as though he understood our
reluctance in this matter. "True," he said. "Thid is my brother. He must
be mad! And I tell you now: if he has gone as far in this experiment as
I suspect, I shall not hesitate to apply the only remedy dictated by
efficiency--death! Have him brought to me at once."

But Thid was nowhere to be found. He had learned of Palladin's anger,
and had fled into the Diskran desert where the abhorred _Termans_ dwelt
in myriads despite all our effort to eradicate them. These Termans were
soft-bodied, subterranean creatures with an obstinate life-force, and we
had long realized that they might one day be a menace to us.

So into the desert our Thid fled, spurred by the knowledge that his life
was forfeit. For