How did you know?
She came in the room as he was reopening the valve on the oxygen tank. She stared at Dan, grey on the bed, and then at Carl. One look at Carl's face and she knew too.
Carl nodded, slowly. "I'm sorry, Jean."
She shook her head, tears welling up. "But you loved him so."
"More than my own father."
"Then why?"
"He wanted to be immortal. Always, that drove him. Greatness, power—all the same. Now he will be immortal, because we needed a martyr in order to win. Now we will win. The other way we would surely lose, and he would live on and on, and die every day." He turned slowly to the bed and brought the sheet up gently. "This is better. This way he will never die."
They left the quiet room.