|"You what?"| [Seven stared, aghast. Then, Eight Would bluster accusingly.] |"You can't do that,"| [Eight yelled, slamming his fist on the table,] |"This is a job for life! .. Tell him, Six!"| [Six steepled his fingers, and studied Twelve over them. For anyone who cared to look, there was a remarkable similarity between the two men. While Twelve was clearly the elder of the two, Six didn't look that far behind.] |""I'm not so sure,"| [*Six replied to the worked-up Eight. |"To be sure, it's never been done before."| [Twelve, the one who wanted to quit, spoke up.] |"No, it's never been done before,"| [Twelve agreed.] |"Since the council began, every overseer has left feet first. Shot, stabbed, blown up, turned inside out, reduced to a memetic concept that can never die—"| [He nodded slightly to Nine, who nodded back in recognition.] |"—and variously reduced to their component atoms. But this whole thing with Site 19 has me thinking. I am an old man. If I die, I will die on my own terms, in my own bed, looking at a picture of my dear wife."| [He paused, and glanced at his hands.]