"Do I have a choice?"
"Yes!" the doctor said fiercely. "Life or death! Will you listen to my terms?"
The Ron-body shrugged. "All right."
"Very well. Then I want you to spare Ron Carver. I want you to allow me to deliver him into the hands of friends, deliver him alive and safe. In return, I promise that your twelve-year-old body will leave this Earth virtually at once. I will send it to the colony on Mars, where it will stay until adulthood. Will you allow this?"
The Scholar's smile was thin. "And that is your only condition?"
"My only one!"
"Doctor—" Ron stepped towards him. "You can't leave things as they are—"
"Are you willing, Scholar? Will you let Ron Carver live his life in peace?"
The Ron-body stiffened.
"Yes," he snapped.