. "Tobacco is an irritant, a
drug and a carcinogen. If I gave you a cigarette, I would be giving
you cancer."

"Don't be a hypocrite!" Jason snapped, inwardly pleased at the
rewarding flush in the other's neck. "They've taken the
cancer-producing agents out of tobacco for centuries now. And even if
they hadn't--how does that affect this situation. You're taking me to
Cassylia to certain death. So why should you concern yourself with the
state of my lungs in the future?"

"I hadn't considered it that way. It is just that there are certain
rules of life...."

"Are there?" Jason broke in, keeping the initiative and the advantage.
"Not as many as you like to think. And you people who are always
dreaming up the rules never carry your thinking far enough. You are
against drugs. Which drugs? What about the tannic acid in that tea
you're drinking? Or the caffeine in it? It's loaded with caffeine--a
drug that is both a strong stimulant and a diuretic. That's why you
won't find tea in spacesuit canteens. That's a case of a drug
forbidden for a good reason. Can you justify your cigarette ban the
same way?"

Mikah started to talk, then thought for a moment. "Perhaps you are
right. I'm tired, and it is not important." He warily took the
cigarette case from Jason's pocket and dropped it onto the tray. Jason
didn't attempt to interfere. Mikah poured himself a third cup of tea
with a slightly apologetic air.

"You must excuse me, Jason, for attempting to make you conform to my
own standards. When you are in pursuit of the big Truths, you
sometimes let the little Truths slip. I'm not intolerant, but I do
tend to expect everyone else to live up to certain criteria I have set
for myself. Humility is something we should never forget and I thank
you for reminding me of it. The search for Truth is hard."

"There is no Truth," Jason told him, the anger and insult gone now
from his voice since he wanted to keep his captor involved in the
conversation. Involved enough to forget about the free wrist for a
while. He raised the cup to his lips and let the tea touch his lips
without drinking any. The half-full cup supplied an unconsidered
reason for his free hand.

"No Truth?" Mikah weighed the thought. "You can't possibly mean that.
The galaxy is filled with Truth, it's the touchstone of Life itself.
It's the thing that separates Mankind from the animals."

"There is no Truth, no Life, no Mankind. At least not the way you
spell them--w