She could feel it. Could feel the raw sensation of fresh, surging power. The special treatments she had been giving herself made her feel invincible.

Judith White knew that she was almost there. She had more than touched the plain; she had crossed it. It was only a matter of stabilizing what she now felt. And she knew that moment was almost here.

She never wanted to come down. A crash.

Sudden. Shocking.

Not from the euphoria she now felt. The noise was real. Out beyond the lab.

Someone complaining. Softly. The sound of rapid footsteps on shattered glass.

"Not now," Judith murmured to herself. She wasn't ready.

More voices. Hushed, nervous.

She got to her feet. She had to steady herself against her desk as she made her way around to the other side. It was a challenge to stay upright as she staggered across the space between desk and door.

Her head was reeling. The voices seemed far away.

No. Close up.

She pulled open the door.

There was a narrow room off the rear of the main laboratory. It was supposed to be an extrawide corridor and storage area, and connected to another laboratory. Dr. White's team had redesigned the long chamber to house the BBQs. In her hallucinatory haze, Judith could see a faint amber strip of light coming from beneath the closed door to this room. "Quiet, " a hushed voice insisted.

"There's no one here," another rasped.

"Just be quiet, anyway," ordered the first. "Here, start with the ones nearest the door."

Dr. White heard the distinct, dejected lowing of the BBQs.

Not now, she thought. I'm not ready for this. Holding on to metal lab stools and desks, she made her way across the laboratory to the closed door. The single BBQ that had been brought into the lab for the press was still in its pen. The animal blinked at Dr. White as the scientist passed by, crawling hand over hand along the small fence that held the sad-eyed creature in place.