But after he’d sat with her for two days, she was no longer an unknown alien, she was almost a friend. He enjoyed her company and her playfulness—Lyra was beginning to seem almost human to him. He suddenly had a horrible vision of her strapped to a cold stainless steel lab table, while scientists with sharp knives prepared to vivisect her. It would probably look much like the illustration in her anatomy book, in fact, but in vivid color. Even if the thought weren’t repugnant, he could only imagine the retaliation of her kin. If I sacrificed her for my own freedom, it might be short-lived. It might be very short-lived indeed.