"Not might. Would."
"So—"
"So it's an insoluble problem, on our terms. We have to think of this as a war, and of them as our enemies. What is our word of honor to a rat?"
"But to a super-rat—to SK540—"
As if called, SK540 appeared.
Had he been listening? Had he understood? Neither of them dared to voice the question aloud in his presence.
"Later," Philip murmured.
"We must eat," said Norah. "Let's see what's left in the way of food."
Everything tasted flat; they weren't very hungry after all. There was enough left over to feed the three rats. But they had evidently helped themselves earlier; they left the scraps untasted.