"I suppose you saw the end of it," the man on the stairs said.
Smith cleared his throat and leaned over Joe Rosenkrantz's shoulder.
"We saw," he answered. "I ... is there any doubt that he's dead?"
The man on the stairs looked to the group around the body. The doctor shook his bandaged head sadly.
"As much from strain and exhaustion as anything else," he reported. "The man belonged in a hospital, but some uncanny conditioning drove him on. In the end, his heart gave out."
The stocky man turned back to the lens.
"You heard that. Except for one man who didn't know at the time what was going on, we did the best we could. I'm Delaney, by the way, in charge here."
Smith identified himself, and agreed that Gerson had looked to be unmanageable.
"Do you think you can find out what they used?" he asked. "I gather that you never got anything out of him since the time you picked him up. Did that part of it go according to plan?"
"Oh, yes," said Delaney. "We even got back the little torch we sent him, the way you plotted for us. It looked used, too; but now I'm wondering if they let him cut his way out."