Chapter 11

 "Doctor! Get out of the way!"

"No, Ron. You don't know what you're doing—"

The old man was shielding the Ron-body with his own. Ron put the weapon down.

"But why?" he said.

"Because this is no answer! This is the assassin's way—" He turned to the Ron-body, and his voice was shaking. "Listen, Scholar. I want to arbitrate. Will you listen?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Yes!" the doctor said fiercely. "Life or death! Will you listen to my terms?"

The Ron-body shrugged¹. "All right."

"Very well. Then I want you to spare Ron Carver. I want you to allow me to deliver him into the hands of friends, deliver him alive and safe. In return, I promise that your twelve-year-old body will leave this Earth virtually at once. I will send it to the colony on Mars, where it will stay until adulthood². Will you allow this?"

The Scholar's smile was thin. "And that is your only condition?"

"My only one!"

"Doctor—" Ron stepped towards him. "You can't leave things as they are—"

"Are you willing, Scholar? Will you let Ron Carver live his life in peace?"

The Ron-body stiffened³.

"Yes," he snapped.

"Ron—" the doctor waved towards him. "Hand him your gun."

"What?"

"Give it to him! We've made a pact⁴."

Ron hesitated, and then extended the butt⁵ towards the Scholar. He took it with a slight bow, weighed it in his palm, and then slipped the weapon into his pocket.

"You did wisely," the doctor said, with noticeable relief. "If you had turned that gun on us, Scholar, I would have killed you on the spot." He patted the metallic⁶ bulk beneath his own coat. "I came prepared, too...."

1 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

3 stiffened   

加强的

参考例句：

• He leaned towards her and she stiffened at this invasion of her personal space. 他向她俯过身去，这种侵犯她个人空间的举动让她绷紧了身子。
• She stiffened with fear. 她吓呆了。

4 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

5 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

6 metallic   

adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的

参考例句：

• A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
• He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。