"Mark, I don't care! Even if you try to leave me here, I'll follow!"
"You'll have to, then." Smiling, I pushed past her towards the exit. "Goodbye, Celeste."
"No, Mark! I won't let you go!"
"Goodbye, Celeste," I said again, patting her cheek.
Still smiling, then, I hammered home a knockout blow....
CHAPTER VII
FINAL FOE
It was still as death inside the space-warp chamber.
But the indicators showed that I'd now reached the Interplanetary Center. Grimly, I shoved shut the switch that released the heavy warp-hatch ... stood motionless while I waited for the mechanism to grind through its inexorable cycle.