Johlan smiled gently. "But the dragon was never really slain, Cadmus. I was the dragon."
Cadmus heard the door open. He heard her voice, sharp and clear. It was beautiful, he thought, like music. Though music could never be so deadly.
The Venusian gasped as he turned. He started to die as he faced her. The death ray glowed on his green-scaled chest for a while, then faded as the Venusian stumbled across the room, the neutron gun hanging limply and forgotten in his webbed hand. He finished dying with his face pressed hard against the window.
Far away, Venus shimmered brightly in the sky.
She knelt beside Cadmus. Her kisses were wet on his face. He could feel her hands and her lips.
"You'll be all right, Cadmus," she said as her hands caressed his face. "As long as it didn't get your heart."
"I managed to hide for a while," she said, "when we fled from Consar's palace. I heard that terrible explosion. Later I heard Johlan's voice from the Tower and I came here. I didn't know, until I overheard him talking to you, what had really happened." Her voice broke. "How could he have been--so fiendish--so--"
"Forget it," he murmured. "Or try to anyway. We did it. The Machine's gone."
"Yes." A glitter of faith shone in her eyes. "The System's free again. Free to evolve and grow, and reach greatness or ruin. But at least to be free."
"We're going again, and that's what really matters," she said. "It's us now, Cadmus. It'll be just you and me now for a while. Remember?"