Helen awaited him in an anteroom, her veil flung back so that he could see her poor, marred face. Anger rose hotly in him, but he pushed it down. Her suffering had not been meaningless and revenge was already consummated.
"Gabriel!" Her voice was taut. "... Jed!"
"Gabriel," he smiled. "The genuine, original Gabriel—accept no substitutes."
"I'm so glad." Her lips formed the words, for she had no voice with which to make them.
"Come." He took her arm and led her out into the quiet street. It was almost daylight and the sky was a clear pearl gray. Again a star detached itself from the translucent disk of the Moon and sped out into the Galaxy.
Soon, he thought, we'll be on a starship like that one, leaving this played-out planet for the new worlds up in the sky.
"You're going to let Gabe—the other Gabriel—go?" she asked.
He bent his head to look at her swollen face. "You're free, Helen; I have my body back; why should we concern ourselves with what happens to him? He can't hurt us any more."
"I suppose you're right," she muttered. "It seems unfair...." She shivered. "Still, you have no idea of the things he did to me—the things he made me do...." She shivered again.