And that was why we had come to this planet Earth, long ago. How well I remembered now that I, T'Shal, had been one of that very band of Aarlans who first had visited this planet!

"This world Earth must yield fascinating experiences," Klon was saying. "For no Aarlan who came here has ever yet returned."

"You do not understand!" I cried. "When we came here first, we picked a species of ape-creature as the most suitable symbiotic partners and entered their brains in the usual way. We intended only our customary temporary stay.

"But we were disastrously entrapped! This ape-species has no true intelligence, but they have instincts of surpassing nervous intensity—instincts of greed and lust and hatred. And that bestial nervous influence warped the symbiosis we intended, distorted our own intelligence, inhibited our thinking until we forgot all about Aarl!

"Yes, we forgot Aarl, forgot our own identities and thought of ourselves only as the minds of these ape-like creatures! And each of us, when his symbiotic partner died, remained so dazed and drugged that he merely drifted on to another ape-host, another partner."

Klon's horrified thought came. "But then why is it that you are able to remember now, T'Shal?"

"Because the shock of force that released me from my ape-host dissolved the inhibiting effect and made full memory return to me!" I told him.

"What are we to do?" cried Klon. "Always, we have supposed that symbiosis with these Earth-creatures must be richly rapturous, since no Aarlan ever returned from here. Aarlans have come here in millions for that reason, and more will come!"

"No more must come!" I told him. "You and I will return at once to Aarl to warn all our race of the horrible trap of Earth. At least we will be able to prevent any more of our race from coming here."

I added, "And before we leave, I will make an effort to save all the millions of us who remain trapped here in the dazing symbiosis with the ape-creatures. If I could make them all remember their true identity, they might be able to break free of this bondage."

That is why I, T'Shal of Aarl, am utilizing the photoelectric signaling device to send back this last message before I leave Earth forever.

You who are listening to my signals, Dixon and Burke! You others 

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