eister. We didn't mean to startle you. There are a few
questions, before we release you--"

_Merridew_, said the whisper in Hyrst's mind, _is a psychiatrist. Let
me handle this._

Hyrst sat still, his hands lax between his knees, his eyes wide and
fixed in astonishment. He heard the psychiatrist's questions, and he
heard the answers he gave to them, but he was merely an instrument, with
no conscious volition, it was the whisperer in his mind who was
answering. Then the warden shuffled some papers he held in his hand and
asked questions of his own.

"You underwent the Humane Penalty without admitting your guilt. For the
record, now that the penalty has been paid, do you wish to change your
final statements?"

The voice in Hyrst's mind, the secret voice, said swiftly to him. _Don't
argue with them, don't get angry, or they'll keep you on and on here._

"But--" thought Hyrst.

_I know you're innocent, but they'll never believe it. They'll keep you
on for further psychiatric tests. They might get near the truth,
Hyrst--the truth about us._

Suddenly Hyrst began to understand, not all and not clearly, something
of what had happened to him. The obscuring mists began to lift from the
borders of his mind.

"What is the truth," he asked in that inner quiet, "about us?"

_You've spent fifty years in the Valley of the Shadow. You're changed,
Hyrst. You're not quite human any more. No one is, who goes through the
freeze. But they don't know that._

"Then you too--"

_Yes. And I too changed. And that is why our minds can speak, even
though I am on Mars and you are on its moon. But they must not know
that. So don't argue, don't show emotion!_

The warden was waiting. Hyrst said aloud to him, slowly. "I have no
statement to make."

The warden did not seem surprised. He went on, "According to your papers
here you also denied knowing the location of the Titanite for which
MacDonald was presumably murdered. Do you still deny that?"

Hyrst was honestly surprised. "But surely, by now--"

The warden shrugged. "According to this data, it never came to light."

"I never knew," said Hyrst, "where it was."

"Well," said the warden, "I've asked the question and that's as far as
my responsibility goes. But there's a visitor who has permission to see
you."

* * * * *

He and the doctor went out. Hyrst watched them go. He thought, So I'm
not quite human. Not quite human any more. Does that mak