“Fair is fair. Twice now, through blind ignorance and sheer luck, you have managed to damage my body. This time, you have destroyed it. This angers me, but I see no profit in that. So I will allow you to make amends.

“Alexander, the situation is this: I believe that the mind and the body are one; can you understand the concept? I have done all I can—and I have done truly astonishing things, boy—to keep my mind and my body together as one. But if I cannot go on in my own body, I will have to go on in the next best thing. Yours. The blood in your veins is my blood, after all.

“That is why it is so easy for me to reach out—you have used the Soaring Spirit, so you understand, yes? A lock of hair was enough for you there. Now: imagine how much more potent it is for me, with my blood beating through every part of you. Diluted a little, yes, but still stronger than any other.

“The power in that blood is a power I cultivated and can call. Even your features are my own. You are as close to an exact replica of me as could be. Certainly better than any of the toys Beckman ever produced. So I propose we share.”

“What are you talking about?” Alex shouted. “Let me out of here!”

“Listen,” the man said patiently. “Try to understand. It is much better that you do not attempt to fight, Alexander. You can never win. The proposal is this: join with me. There is plenty of room for two of us here. Infinite space. Although, only one can be dominant, of course. But I will develop your body and your mind, and we will both profit. We shall let the body age naturally a little while, and then, at the optimal moment, we shall stop aging forever. And then we will go on, until we have solved all the secrets and created new ones.

“I realize you will need a little time to think this over. To understand. I will give you that time. Say, thirty years. I am not cruel. And in the meantime, I will give you a whole world to keep you satisfied and occupied. A world of wonder. Visions of dazzling happy endings, where all the darkness disappears, and you become a legend. Or, no: perhaps I will simply give you a small world of contentment. Give you the thing that you have always wanted most, with the pitiable lack of ambition my son has allowed to fester in you. Yes. This will be your reality for the time being. Honestly, you will never know the difference.”

The man stepped past Alex and pulled open the door behind him.

“Thirty years of . . . What?” Alex flinched away. He was getting lost in panic. “Just let me go. . . .”