"Wait!" Dr. Hamlin said.
"Say, what's this all about?" Edgerton said suddenly. "Where's Paul Spero anyhow? Rhind and Mitchell are waiting!"
Carl flicked a look at Diane, then turned back to her father. "Are you going to tell her? Or should I?"
"Tell me what?" Diane said. "How does he know about Paul Spero? Spero told us...."
V
"Spero told us a lot of things," Carl said thickly. "He told us he'd taken pictures without speaking to anyone. It served his purpose better to keep us in the dark about how this immortality thing was really worked until after we got here. After that, he figured he'd take over and we'd have to go along with him whether we liked it or not. Furthermore, Ferguson and your father were in on it from the beginning, weren't you?"
"Please," Dr. Hamlin said nervously, "it's not near as bad as you're making it out to be. It's only a minor adjustment."
"Minor adjustment!" Carl grasped the arm of Diane's jumper, pulling her along with him through the long corridors of boxes. At the far end of the structure, he found what he was searching for. Three boxes—slitted in front like a zoo cage. And inside the boxes, peering at them through sad yellow-rimmed eyes—were three chowls.
"There's the answer to your immortality," Carl said grimly. "Rhind and Mitchell were both doctors—surgeons. Do you get it now?"