And the pillar glowed, throbbed--began to send out questing swirls and tendrils-- "There forming before me was That which had walked with Stanton, which had taken Thora--the thing I had come to find! "My brain sprang into action.

My hand threw up the pistol and I fired shot after shot into the shining core.
"As I fired, it swayed and shook; gathered again.

I slipped a second clip into the automatic and another idea coming to me took careful aim at one of the globes in the roof.

From thence I knew came the force that shaped this Dweller in the Pool--from the pouring rays came its strength.

If I could destroy them I could check its forming.