Harshaw shook his head sadly. "Duke, if you had given way to your natural impulse to take a poke at me, a few minutes ago when I told you some homely truths about yourself, and if Mike had been standing in that doorway behind you... well, I'm convinced that you would have stood no chance at all.  None.  You would have been dead before you knew it, much too quickly for me to stop him.  Mike would then have been sorrowfully apologetic over having 'wasted food' - namely your big, beefy carcass.  Oh, he would feel guilty about that; you heard him a while ago.  But he wouldn't feel guilty about killing you; that would just be a necessity you had forced on him... and not a matter of any great importance anyhow, even to you.  You see, Mike believes that your soul is immortal."