The Guards came slowly toward him along the lake's edge. The swans glided unconcerned. Brooks screamed defiantly. As he fired at one Guard he threw himself to one side. The foremost Guard fell in silent paralysis. Evidently reflex action caused him to accidently discharge the meson blastgun. A blazing lethal flame mushroomed, and the green lawn crackled to black char in a long smoking swath. Brooks fired again. The other Guard dodged behind an alien looking tree with orange leaves. Brooks ran wildly. "Glora--wait--" * * * * * She turned as Brooks ran past her. Her shoulder struck Carl Brittain and the Actor's body toppled into the lake. He went under without a struggle. The water opened and slid over his body again like thick shiny glue. The swans glided over the spot. Brittain didn't come up; there was no movement in the 'water'. Brooks ran on after Glora who hadn't stopped walking. Behind him, he heard the Guard shouting. He ran past a parked skycar. Beside it, a couple sat shoulder to shoulder looking over the lake. They seemed oblivious to the commotion. Brooks grabbed Glora's arm and dragged her toward the skycar. "You'll remember," he sobbed. "I'll see that you remember." He slid the cowling back. As he started to drag the woman into the seat, he hesitated. He stared into her face. The face he had kissed many times in a thousand thousand adventure-dreams in a hundred imagined worlds. It was the same, but somehow, different. Her eyes returned his stare, unblinking, unrecognizing, unconcerned. Her flesh was strangely unresponsive to his hands. No resistance, no compliance, nothing at all. The Guard was running and he was near. He stopped, leveled the meson blastgun. "I don't want to kill you," he shouted hysterically. "Give yourself up; I've never killed anything, and I don't want to kill you." Brooks laughed crazily. "You'll kill her, too, if you fire at me. You'll kill the dreams of millions of your fellow Workers if you kill Glora Delar. Get back there now." "You're too dangerous," the Guard said; "I've orders to kill you if you don't give yourself up, because you're insane." Andy Brooks laughed. He tried to push Glora Delar into the skycar. He saw the Guard was going to risk a blast. He spun, dropped her body between them. It had flashed through his mind--if she died with him, then in a way, she would be his forever, only his, and she would never be shared with all the other millions of Workers. A blazing light burned and blinded him. He fell gasping and crumbling with the deep and lasting agony. He lay in burning fog. He tried to get up. He couldn't move. Through a thickening blur he saw the Guard lurching toward him, his face white and contorted with horror. Brooks' hand fumbled blindly, touched something. "Glora," he whispered. He slowly twisted his head. He had to do that much.