y stepped into the apartment and David quietly closed the door.

"Hi, Sis," drawled Leah. "You made us wait long enough!" She walked
toward the girl, hand outstretched, then stopped with a gasp of
disbelief.

Tanya's red hair was still brilliant and gleaming, her creamy skin
unlined, and her full red lips curved up into a friendly smile as she
leaned forward for a sisterly kiss. But Leah jerked away and glared with
anger.

A puzzled frown creased Tanya's lovely white forehead.

"What's the matter, Leah? Aren't you glad to see me? You look so
strange, as though you'd been terribly ill!"

Leah shook her head, tears of rage gathering in her pale eyes. "I'm
okay," she whispered. "It's you. You haven't changed. I have. You're
still young, you're pretty, _you're just the way I used to be_!" She
whirled to face David, her voice choking.

"What have you done to her, Dr. Wong?"

The four men in the room were all staring at the sisters, scarcely
believing what they saw, although they had all been prepared for the
contrast. The twin sisters were no longer twins. One had retained her
youth; the other was faded, aging.

"This is awful," Haslam muttered. "Absolutely ghastly." He put a
comforting hand on Leah's shoulder, and with a deep sob she hid her face
against him and cried.

Hudson and Faure could not take their eyes from Tanya, and David leaned
against the wall to stop his trembling.

"Sit down, all of you," he said. "First we'll have a drink. I'm sure we
all need it. Then we'll face--what has to be faced."

* * * * *

An hour later, they had achieved a calmness, of sorts. They had given up
some of their normal sobriety to achieve the calm, but they were
grateful to the drug for cushioning the shock.

David paced the floor, glass in hand, talking rapidly as he finished his
long explanation.

"So you see what happened," he said. "When I began the experiment, I had
no idea how staggering the results might be. That is, I knew in my mind,
but I never imagined the _realness_ of what would happen. I thought of
it as just an experiment."

Leah sniffed, her resentment somewhat dulled by drink. "So I was just an
experiment! Don't you ever think about people's feelings? I know I'm not
as good as you are; I'm only Office, but I'm human."

Karl patted her hand. "Of course you are, Leah. But that is one of the
defects of people in Research--they forget about human emotions." He
looked up s