Cuso swallowed his anger. Since his rage was so great, he had to swallow several times before he got it all down, after which he looked as if he were going to choke on it. "Look, let's be reasonable," he urged. "I'm willing," Zen said. "You're not worth a damn to me!" Cuso shouted. "He is worth something to me," West interposed. Again the Asian swallowed. If ever he reached the explosion point, his anger was going to come out as boiling rage. "As I said, let us be reasonable and talk this over together." "Glad to," West agreed. "What is more reasonable than a corpse?" The question took Cuso aback. But only for an instant. "Come to think of it, you're right. Nothing that I have ever seen is more agreeable than a corpse, to me, that is. Are you still determined to volunteer for that position, or should I say _condition_?" "Any time," West answered. "As I told Kurt some time ago, I am rather tired of this plane of existence and I would like to see what it's like over yonder. Not that I don't already know," he added. "You know what it's like beyond death?" Cuso asked, curious in spite of himself. "Certainly," West said, in a sure tone of voice. Listening, Zen again had the impression that the craggy man was stalling for time again. On the other hand, he might be telling the literal truth, he might know what waited at the end of life. If so--Zen let this possibility slide hastily out of his mind. He had more to think about now than he had brain cells to use for the task. "Then what is it like?" Cuso asked. "You have heard of heaven--" "Yes." "That's where I'm going." As he spoke, West vanished. A stunned silence held the big gallery. Cuso, his mouth hanging open, stood leaning forward. On the floor, the lieutenant dared to sit up. He even dared to speak. "See! That's the way they went. I couldn't stop 'em." Cuso shouted an order at his men. Zen found himself tied hand and foot. A raging maniac paced the floor beside him. Every now and then Cuso kicked him. Screaming at the top of his voice, the Asian leader invited Zen to vanish too. It did Zen no good to try to protest that he was not one of the new people and that he knew nothing of the method they had used in disappearing. In Cuso's mind, he was one of them. He was to be treated as such. XIII At first, the lighted matches under his toe nails hurt like the very devil. He had never known such pain. Then he forgot about the matches under his toe nails. They started lighting them under his fingers. "Where did they go?" Cuso screamed. "How did they do it?" Zen had long since ceased trying to say that he didn't know. Instead of speaking, he shook his head. This was all he could do. Cuso interpreted the head shake as a stubborn refusal to answer. He kicked the colonel in the face.