Michael Orton wrote:

> "No, Guildmistress, and it may be she could be useful.   But before we call
> her from whatever duty she is on, my own skills work better on catatonic
> minds than those fully awake.  If I could find a chair to rest on, I will
> see what I can do."

Duplar sends his mental probe into the unconscious being. It takes three 
tries before he manages to lock on to anything at all; his head aches 
just as Ryzar's presumably has done.

The mind is alien, more alien than any mind he has probed before.  This 
is not like the mind of a kandar or a human; it's something quite 
different indeed.

There's a strong emotion of confusion and loss; a swirl of disconnected 
thoughts, and a great black void where something important ought to be. 
There are images of machines, not like the mirror machines in the 
tunnel, and just as unlike the devices of the Karazthan.

Then there's a man with a metal cap covering his skull; wires connected 
to machines.  He is the leader.  He gives meaning.  He is gone.

The creature is dying.