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his medical condition."
DeFore's eyebrows lowered, bracketing a pair of horizontal lines that creased
the bridge of her nose.
"Your guess is as good as mine."
Brigid and Kane knew the meaning of her oblique reference. The matter of
Lakesh's restored youth had been a major topic of speculation for the past few
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months. Not even Lakesh himself pretended to understand how it had happened.
The process he described flew so thoroughly in the face of scientific and
medical fact, he might as well have relegated the cause to drinking a magic
elixir.
All DeFore really knew was that more than six months earlier she watched
Mohandas Lakesh Singh step into the gateway chamber as a hunched-over spindly
old man who appeared to be fighting the grave for every hour he remained on
the planet.
A day later, the gateway chamber activated and when the door opened, Kane,
Brigid Baptiste, Grant and Domi emerged. A well-built stranger wearing the
white bodysuit of Cerberus duty personnel followed them. DeFore could only
gape in stunned silence at the man's thick, glossy, black hair, bis unlined
olive complexion and toothy, excited grin. She recognized only the blue eyes
and the long, aquiline nose as be-
64 JAMES AXLER
longing to the Lakesh she had known for the past five years.
Lakesh attributed the miracle to Sam and his laying on of hands. Even he knew
the process was far more complex than that, but he could engage only in fairly
futile speculation how it had been accomplished. According to him, Sam simply
laid his little hand against his midriff and a tingling warmth seemed to seep
from it.
The warmth swiftly became searing heat, like waves of liquid fire rippling
through his veins and arteries.
His heartbeat picked up in tempo, spread the rhythms through the rest of his
body, like a pulsing web of energy that suffused every separate cell and
organ.
He described how his body became aflame with a searing pain, the same kind of
agony a man would feel when circulation was suddenly restored to a numb limb.
His entire metabolism seemed to awaken to furious life from a long slumber, as
if it had been jump-started by a powerful battery.
He told them in tones of hushed awe that after the sensation of heat faded, he
realized two things more or less simultaneously: he wasn't wearing his glasses
but he could see his hand perfectly. And by that perfect vision, he saw the
flesh of hand was smooth, the prominent veins of old age having sunk back into
firm flesh. Even liver spots faded away as he watched.
Sam claimed he had increased Lakesh's production of two antioxidant enzymes,
catalase and superoxide dismutase, and boosted up his alkyglycerol level to
the point where the aging process was for all intents
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65
and purposes reversed. For the first few weeks following Sam's treatment, his
hair continued to darken and more and more of his wrinkles disappeared. But
then the entire process reached a certain point and came to a halt. Lakesh
estimated he had returned to a physical state approximating his mid-forties.
Lakesh assumed Sam possessed the ability to transfer his biological energy to
other organic matter, which in turn stimulated the entire human cellular
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structure. Beyond that, he could only guess.
Lakesh didn't try to convince DeFore or anyone else that he believed his
condition was permanent. He claimed he had no idea how long his vitality would
last. Whether it would vanish overnight like the fabulous One Horse Shay and
leave him a doddering old scarecrow again, or whether he would simply begin to
age normally from that point onward, he couldn't be certain.
However, he told all of them he wasn't about to waste the gift of youth, as
transitory as it might be.
Nobody knew who One Horse Shay had been or what was so fabulous about him, but
DeFore noticed
Lakesh surreptitiously eyeing her bosom in a way he had never done before.
Kane suspected that Lakesh was taking full advantage of his restored middle
age. The glances he caught
Domi and Lakesh exchanging from time to time hinted at that. He was also
increasingly assertive and challenging. The confrontational behavior Kane
attributed to a higher hormonal level.
Still, Kane was no more inclined to tolerate highhandedness from a middle-aged
Lakesh than an el-
66 JAMES AXLER
derly one, so their clashes had actually become more frequent.
Kane took a sip of coffee, then said casually, "There might not be any
guesswork involved any longer."
Both DeFore and Quavell looked at him quizzically. "No?" queried the medic.
"No. That's what I want you to confirm."
Stiffly, DeFore retorted, "You damn well know I can't discuss a patient's
medical condition with anyone other than the patient. I can't violate
physician and patient confidentiality unless permission has been given in
advance and in this case it hasn't,"
Kane wanted to ask her when she had taken the Hippocratic oath, but he knew
she wouldn't appreciate the sarcasm. Reba DeFore had never disguised her
antipathy toward him or rather to what he represented. In her eyes, as a
former Magistrate, he was the strutting embodiment of the totalitarianism of
the villes, glorying in his baron-sanctioned powers to dispense justice and
death. At one time she had believed that due to his Mag conditioning he was
psychologically conflicted and therefore couldn't be trusted.
Once, in a private, unguarded moment, DeFore had been driven by frustration to
admit that she didn't believe she was really a doctor, not by the predark
definition of the term. She described her training as superficial, down and
dirty. At best, she felt she fulfilled the functions of what was once known as
a general practitioner.
Kane knew he needed the medic on his side, so he dispensed with the old
resentments and his tendency
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67
toward making snide comments. "A couple of weeks ago," Kane said
matter-of-factly, "Lakesh suffered a collapse."
DeFore's lips pursed. "That much is public knowledge. But I'm not obligated to
explain why."
Kane nodded as if he expected the answer. Choosing his words carefully, he
said, "Doctor, I wouldn't be inquiring if I didn't feel the matter was of
utmost importance."
As he had hoped, DeFore reacted with a fleeting, appreciative smile to being
addressed by the honorific.
"How so?"
"The redoubt's security might be at stake."
"Due to Lakesh?"
"Yes."
She lifted a shoulder in a negligent shrug. "That wouldn't be a new
situation."
Kane and Brigid knew DeFore was making a backhanded reference to the
occasionally hostile dynamic she shared with Lakesh. Although she was one of
the first exiles recruited by him, the two people still disagreed on a wide
variety of matters. She had accused him of being overdemanding and high-handed
and sometimes she outright distrusted him, particularly after he supplied
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