The voice was that of a five-year-old and it sent a chill through Alexa. The "grown-up" memory cells in her brain had been replaced by blanks. It was "last in/first out" and thirty-plus years of life experience were being replaced with brand-new nothingness. The Syndrome. Time had to move in one direction or the other. The body either went forward or in reverse. There was no equilibrium. Then she had a further thought. Winston Bartlett was not going to let this Beta disaster run to its natural conclusion-- a horrifying exposure to the world. He was going to intervene. Kristen was not about to leave this room in her current condition. Either she left cured--which seemed wholly implausible at this point--or she departed in a manner that left no trace. Then yet another thought crossed her befuddled mind. She and Stone knew about Kristen. What does that mean for us? "Stone, we can't leave her here." "What are you proposing we do?" he queried. "Take her to an ER somewhere? Frankly, I don't know how you would describe her problem to an emergency room admissions staffer." "I'll think of something." "By the way, Ally, so you should know, she's wearing diapers. This is the real deal." "And how do you figure in all this?" "I told you. I'm going to be the James Boswell of stem cell technology. I'm going to report on this miracle from the inside. But now, Ally, if the Beta procedure is going to succeed you have to be the one to make it happen." She looked at him, still stunned by the wildness in his eyes. And she had a feeling like her heart was being wrenched out. "You're working with them, aren't you?" She was fuming with anger. She no longer knew who could be trusted. He'd taken leave of his senses. Or had his senses been taken from him? Which was it? "I'm thinking about you. And hopefully about us. You're being offered something you'd be a fool to turn down. That's all I have to say." He took her hand and helped her back into the wheelchair. Then he whispered, "Let's get out of here." He quickly opened the door and rolled her out into the empty hall. When he closed the door behind them, he whispered again. "Didn't you see the surveillance camera and microphone in there? There's one in the room where they had me locked up. They just put them in." "To watch Kristen?"