midnight
He threw the switch by the side of the chamber of brains . Seconds passed , and where was darkness grew a faint glow . The switch had operated ; the current , probably from the device 's own batteries , was there ! Quickly and steadily the liquid within the case took on its self-originating glow , until the midnight laboratory was faintly washed with the delicate rosy light . The wires emerged in their complexity as before , and then the brains , all gruesome and naked in their cradles of unnatural life . Around the internally-lit case were the three besieged Earthlings , half in blackness , the light from the front making ghastly shadows on their faces . Acolites at some sorcerer 's rite they looked , with the long inky patches that left them to dissolve formlessly against the far walls of the room .