"And let me ask you this, Paige: should we give the USSR the advantage temporary though it'll be of having to get along without the anti-agathics for a while? By their very nature, the drugs will do more damage to the West than they will to the USSR. After all, in the Soviet Union one isn't permitted to inherit money, or to exercise any real control over economic forces just because one's lived a long time. If both major powers are given control over death at the same time, the West will be at a natural disadvantage. If we give control over death to the West alone, we'll be sabotaging our own civilization without putting the USSR under any comparable handicap. Is that sensible?"

The picture was staggering, to say the least. It gave Paige an impression of Gunn decidedly at variance with the mask of salesman-turned-executive which the man himself wore. But it was otherwise self consistent; that, he knew, was supposed to be enough for him.

"How could I tell?" he said coldly. "All I can see is that every day I stick with you I get in deeper. First I pose for the FBI as something that I'm not. Next Fm given possession of information that it's unlawful for me to have. And now I'm helping you conceal the evidence of a high crime. It looks more and more to me as though I was supposed to be involved in this thing from the beginning. I don't see how you could have done so thorough a job on me without planning it."

"You needn't deny that you asked for it, Paige."

"I don't deny that," he said. "You don't deny deliberately involving me, either, I notice."

"No. It was deliberate, all right. I thought you'd have suspected it before. And if you're planning to ask me why, save your breath. I'm not permitted to tell you. You'll find out in due course."

"You two"

"No. Hal had nothing to do with involving you. That was my idea. He only agreed to it and he had to be convinced from considerably higher up."

"You two," Paige said through almost motionless lips, "don't hesitate to trample on the bystanders, do you? If I didn't know before that Pfitzner was run by a pack of idealists, I'd know it now. You've got the characteristic ruthlessness."

"That," Anne said in a level voice, "is what it takes."

CHAPTER EIGHT: Jupiter V

CHAPTER EIGHT: Jupiter V

When new turns in behaviour cease to appear in the life of the individual its behaviour ceases to be intelligent.

C. E. COGHILL