Carver rubbed his forehead wearily. "The sersee juice has," he continued, "we may hazard, a role-sharing in terms of the life of the race. We may theorize—"
"To hell with theory," Fred said, and was horrified to find that his voice had grown thick and guttural, like a Lorayan voice. "Professor, do something!"
"There's nothing I can do."
"Maybe Terran science—"
"No, Fred," Carver said quietly.
"What?"
"Fred, please try to understand. I can't bring you back to Earth."
"What do you mean? You must be crazy!"
"Not at all. How can I bring you back with such a fantastic story? They would consider the whole thing a gigantic hoax."
"But—"