Alan's frowning shrug was his only answer for the moment.  Ric grimaced at the blank sterile wall.

"Is Dr. Krill here in Gilead?  Now?"

"Yes."

"Will I see him?"

"Perhaps."

"Do you ever see him?"

"Not much, these days.  He's very busy."

"I'm sure he is."

Ric scowled in silent thought for a few moments, while Alan went back to his work, or pretended to.  Ric noticed that his hands didn't seem too steady, nor were the things they did decisive.

Alan was not a user, that fact was pointedly significant.  He could put it down to not needing it, but that didn't ring true, either.  From the looks of his haggard face Alan could use a little of that boundless energy and joi de vivre the users exhibited.

Here he was, a sort of captive in a bugged lab.  Why?  Why hadn't he left Dr. Krill back at the Mendocino hospital?  Why trundle down here to the wilds of Mexico along with Dr. Morton Krill's re-animated octogenerians and other assorted diciples?  He hadn't been forced here at the point of a gun, had he?  No.  There was some other reason, something that had to do with Alan's high sense of morality and responsibility.  He was involved in Dr. Krill's Great Plan, whatever that might be; and he had started it by bringing the fungi back to Earth and giving it to him.  He was responsible, in a way, for what was now happening all over the world.  He must be watchful; he must be sure that the tremendous power Dr. Krill had unleashed was not misused.  In order to do this he must stay close to Dr. Krill, here at the nucleous of the fast-spreading cult....

That must be it, Ric decided.

Another thing.  Candida.  She was always on his mind, like a happy hurt.

"Where is she?" he blurted.

Alan blinked up from his work.  "Candida?"

"Who else?  I thought you two would be married by now."

Alan's narrow jaw tightened.  "You're something of a dope, Ric, for a trained tech."

"Don't try and tell me it's been me all along!  Candi's been hanging on your every word these many years.  If you told her to stick her hand in a vat of boiling acid she would do it."

Alan laughed hollowly.  "If I told her anything like that there would be an excellent scientific reason.  Candida knows that.  Use your brain, Ric.  Candida is a fine, dedicated bio-research scientist.  She admires my work.  We think alike, in the lab.  We understand each other.  We mesh.  As for the woman, Candida's light-years away from me.  If I love her, that's my misfortune.  Not yours.  Not Candida's."

Ric's heart galloped.  His sympathy for Alan, guessing at once how much Alan did love the green-eyed goddess, could not help being overwhelmed by leaping joy that caught in his throat and made it hard to think straight, much less talk.

"So why wasn't she there when I needed her so much, holding the hand I didn't have?"

"She wanted to be, believe me.  But there was really nothing we could do.  You were having the best care possible, and our time was taken up here.  We both gave every minute to something related to the fungi discovery.  Something we pushed to a conclusion by working night and day.  Something for you, Ric!"

"What -"

"Come and see for yourself."