"Julie, can you hear me?"

Julie had been lying on the deck of the harvester near one of the heaters. Stan had found a blanket in one of the back bays and wrapped it around her. She looked better than she had since the accident.

"Stan?" she said. "I'm very cold."

"Let me see if I can find another blanket," Stan said. "I already have these heaters going full blast."

He stood up to go, but Julie reached out and grabbed his arm. "No, don't leave me, Stan. We're in a lot of trouble, aren't we?"

"To one way of thinking, yes, we are. But to another, we're in no trouble at all. We're together, and we're going to stay that way. Here, Julie, I have something for you. For us both, actually."

He reached into his jacket pocket and brought out the little case containing the Xeno-Zip ampoules.

There were six of them. He uncapped one and lifted Julie's head so she could drink. When she took down the first ampoule, he matched her with one, then uncorked another.

"We aren't supposed to take more than one, are we?"

"I've got a special dispensation," Stan said. "Don't worry, it'll do us no harm."

Julie swallowed the contents of a second ampoule. She shuddered, then laughed. "You were right, Stan. I feel a lot better."

"Me, too," Stan said, sitting down on the deck beside her and holding her close to share the warmth. "This is nice, isn't it?"

"It's very nice, Stan," Julie said. "We never found much time for this before, did we?"

"Unfortunately not. Sometimes it takes a long time to realize what a good thing is."

"As long as it happens sometime," Julie said. "Don't worry, Julie. We're going to get out of this." "I'm sure we are," Julie told him. "One way or the other." She could feel the pain leaving her body. How miraculous the Xeno-Zip was! What a pleasure it was to be free of pain.

She knew it had to be the same way for Stan. For the moment they were both young and strong and were going to live forever. This could only last a little while. But perhaps, she thought, it'll be long enough. The radio kicked into life. "Dr. Myakovsky! Are you there?" It was Captain Hoban from the Dolomite.

"I have to issue a few last-minute instructions," Stan said to Julie. "Excuse me, my dear, I'll be back as soon as I can."