"Don't lie to me! Of course it is!" Astrell's beady eyes grew bright above their pouches. "I'm going to have it right now! I'm going to be young again. You'll see!" "Will I?" Ross set the cube down on the table. "Or will I just see you drop dead in your tracks?" "Drop dead--?" The woman's eyes widened. Her wrinkles cut deeper. "You're trying to scare me, aren't you?--To frighten me into giving up the catalyst after all that I've gone through to get it!" "You think so?" Ross asked tightly. "Let me tell you a few things about this stuff. At the end Tornelescu perfected it, yes. But no one knows whether this batch was made before or after that. At the very best, it's tricky. Not because of the catalyst itself, but because everybody wants fast action. So, Tornelescu made it fast: he tied it in with a metabolic speeder, so that the whole cell structure of your body would change in hours or minutes, instead of weeks or months or years. If it worked, you'd be young in a hurry. "The only trouble was, if it didn't work, it killed you. That's how Tornelescu got on Security's 'wanted' list. He was too eager. He tested new batches on living human beings; he didn't care how many died while he was working out the proper balance." Astrell's voice rose. "You lie! You lie!" Her pudgy hands were shaking also. Her face looked as if it were going to crack and fall apart. "It's up to you," Ross shrugged. "If you think it's worth the gamble, go right ahead and take your chances." Eyes haunted, Astrell stared at him. "You ... you really think it ... might kill me--?" Wordless, Ross shrugged again. Only then, sudden in the stillness, a new voice sang out. Or, rather, in terms of other than this time and place, an old, familiar voice. The ugly, snarling voice of Cheng the slaver. "I'm coming in, you--Thigpen, or whatever your name is!" he shouted fiercely. "Don't try to stop me. I've got your girl in front of me: she'll take the first blast!" Ross went rigid. "You! You hear me?" "Yes. I hear you." "Stand back, then!" Ross swept the room with one desperate glance. It gave him no answers. It didn't even provide shelter. For now, looking up, he saw that the offices actually were part of the storage area, chopped up and cut off with eight-foot, unceilinged partitions. Cheng again: "You better have that catalyst this time, you chitza! That's what I'm here for. If I don't get it, you won't live to tell it." Now Astrell looked up, her face a study in unnatural pallor. "The catalyst--he means to take it!" Ross didn't bother to answer. Astrell cried, "I won't let him! He can't do it!" Cheng: "Your woman dies if you try to shoot, Thigpen! Just remember that!" Astrell: "I'll take it! That's it, I'll take it now! They say even one injection makes you young!" * * * * * She stumbled forward. Claw-like, her fingers tore at the black cube with the catalyst, the injector.