He stood a moment, breathing in the cool air, sensing the sunlight warm on his skin, relishing this return to the planet where he had been given back his manhood. A sound of leather on metal told him Mai was right behind him on the rung of the ship’s ladder. They were alone on the laboratory tarmac. There was no other ship but Alton Raymond’s saucer to break the stretch of macadamite. Than Lear was still in space or on Uthoric; raging, probably, in a dozen different languages. The Slarrn gateway was open to them. They ran across macadamite to a side door. Over a year before, its lock had been fitted to open to two sets of fingerprints, his own and those of Hannes Stryker. Had they changed locks since the trial? His fingertips went into the slots. He waited, heart slamming. Ah, now he could hear the hum of the tumblers blurring, sliding back. As they did so, a mechanism opened the door. The laboratory lay beneath them.
