t into the corridor as Tallis tried to focus his
eyes.

"How do you feel?" MacMaine asked. His voice sounded oddly thick in his
own ears.

"All right. I'm all right. What happened?" He looked wonderingly
around. "Near miss? Must be. Anyone hurt?"

"They're all dead but you and me," MacMaine said.

"Dead? Then we'd better----" He tried to move and then realized that he
was bound hand and foot. The sudden realization of his position seemed
to clear his brain completely. "Sepastian, what's going on here? Why am
I tied up?"

"I had to tie you," MacMaine explained carefully, as though to a child.
"There are some things I have to do yet, and I wouldn't want you to
stop me. Maybe I should have just shot you while you were unconscious.
That would have been kinder to both of us, I think. But ... but,
Tallis, I had to tell somebody. Someone else has to know. Someone else
has to judge. Or maybe I just want to unload it on someone else,
someone who will carry the burden with me for just a little while. I
don't know."

"Sepastian, what are you talking about?" The Kerothi's face shone dully
orange in the dim light, his bright green eyes looked steadily at the
Earthman, and his voice was oddly gentle.

"I'm talking about treason," said MacMaine. "Do you want to listen?"

"I don't have much choice, do I?" Tallis said. "Tell me one thing
first: Are we going to die?"

"You are, Tallis. But I won't. I'm going to be immortal."

Tallis looked at him for a long moment. Then, "All right, Sepastian.
I'm no psych man, but I know you're not well. I'll listen to whatever
you have to say. But first, untie my hands and feet."

"I can't do that, Tallis. Sorry. But if our positions were reversed, I
know what I would do to you when I heard the story. And I can't let you
kill me, because there's something more that has to be done."

Tallis knew at that moment that he was looking at the face of Death.
And he also knew that there was nothing whatever he could do about it.
Except talk. And listen.

"Very well, Sepastian," he said levelly. "Go ahead. Treason, you say?
How? Against whom?"

"I'm not quite sure," said Sebastian MacMaine. "I thought maybe you
could tell me."

_The Reason_

"Let me ask you one thing, Tallis," MacMaine said. "Would you do
anything in your power to save Keroth from destruction? Anything, no
matter how drastic, if you knew that it would save Keroth in the long
run?"

"A foolish question. Of course I