His brother's voice startled him. It was a perfect replica of his own. Soft, cultured and low. "Yes?"
"This is Owen."
He heard a catch, a pause from the other end of the audio.
"I—yes—why hello, Owen. Where are you? Wha—what do you want?"
Owen grinned coldly, but his voice was warm with repentant emotion. "Albert. I—I'm giving myself up. I've had enough. It's been a noble and futile life for me anyway. You know that it's always been just a matter of time before I would give myself up. Well, this is it. I'm—just outside the City now. At Swamper Swhin's Dive. But Albert—"
The Chief of Psychometry's voice was low, hoarse. "Yes, Owen."
"I want to see you first, Albert. I'll probably never get to see you again. I'll be a completely new personality when they release me from the reconditioning processes. I'd like to have a good talk with you before I turn myself in. Just a brother-to-brother talk, like old times, Albert. With me, it'll be a sort of cathartic, a confession. I've sinned, sinned terribly. I'd like to get it all out of my system, and you're the only one who might understand. Can I come up and see you tonight in your lab, Albert?"
There was a long pause. "Why—why, I guess so, Owen. Yes, yes of course you may."
Gullible fool, thought Owen.
"How can you get up here without being detected by the Scanner Guard?"