"That conditioning--it made us like so many sheep. It robbed us of our imagination, our lust for life, our fighting spirit. And then, later on, when my own patterns broke and I found what our world looked like when inhibition wasn't muting our senses and our feelings--" Another change of mood, a shift in fervor. Warmth replaced rage. Pleading took the place of anger: "That's why I did it, Mark. All at once it dawned on me I was hating the wrong thing, the wrong race. I thought that if even a few of our kind could break loose, throw off their patterns, there might be a chance for human freedom. And with freedom, we could beat the Kel. "You know how I felt, Mark--because you've felt the same way! You hated going back, being reconditioned. Every time, it got harder for you to give up freedom. Only you didn't dare admit it, not even to yourself." "So I took it out on the Kel, you mean?" It was an effort to keep my own voice steady. "You may be right." "Then--" "No. Because this is something else again." I gestured to the boxes that held the thrill-mills. "Do you know where these came from?" "I can guess." "Then you know why I've got to follow through on them." "But--" "Say that it's for the cause of human freedom. The freedom of all those poor lost souls Kruze has ordered executed. No matter what I have to do, I'm not going to see them die." Abruptly, I was tired of talking, tired of listening. I turned away. Celeste said, "But he's gone, Mark. Beyond your reach." I stopped short. "What--?" "He warped back as soon as he left the globeship, here. All the way back, clear to the Interplanetary Center." It rocked me, for an instant. Then I shrugged. "Fair enough." "You mean--?" "I warped out to Rizal without a clearance. I can leave the same way." "No Mark! You mustn't! He could kill you!" "I'll have a paragun by the time I get there." "Then I'll go too, Mark! Take me with you!" "No." "But why, Mark? Why? Don't you understand how I feel? No matter what happens, I want to be with you." I said, "You still can't go, Celeste. For two reasons. "In the first place, I still don't trust you. "In the second, and no matter what you do or have done, I'm not going to let anything further happen to you. Not if I can help it." "Mark, I don't care! Even if you try to leave me here, I'll follow!" "You'll have to, then." Smiling, I pushed past her towards the exit. "Goodbye, Celeste." "No, Mark! I won't let you go!" "Goodbye, Celeste," I said again, patting her cheek. Still smiling, then, I hammered home a knockout blow.... CHAPTER VII FINAL FOE It was still as death inside the space-warp chamber. But the indicators showed that I'd now reached the Interplanetary Center. Grimly, I shoved shut the switch that released the heavy warp-hatch ... stood motionless while I waited for the mechanism to grind through its inexorable cycle. A click. A whir.