Chapter Twenty-Five
Tycho looked deep into Kes’ eyes as he shook his hand.
“I want to make something clear before I go,” the old man said. “I’m doing this of my own free will and I accept the consequences, whatever they may be.”
A cold breeze was blowing across the parking lot outside the warehouse refuge. Kes gripped Tycho’s hand tightly. “I understand what you’re saying, and I appreciate why you’re saying it.”
Would Tycho’s words make him feel less guilty if the vaccine was a dud and Wilder’s friend went to his death? Kes doubted it. But perhaps, when the biocide arrived at the refuge and his own end came, he might be able to take comfort in the fact that he had done all he could, even to the extent of accepting an elderly man’s offer to risk his life.
Kes watched Tycho walk calmly
