Badge of Infamy

o

er, Doc saw hi

c and Jake brooded silently in the back, paying no attention to the colors that were blazoned over the dunes. The cat-and-mouse game was getting

actor to a sudden

m, but as he drew nearer they could see that he had no definite direction. He simply ran, pumping his legs frantically as

actor. It halted squarely in the runner's path

the man was too far gone to rise. Jake and Lou shoved him thro

to a whine that rose and fell with the motion of his legs. Sweat had onc

It had no effect, except to upset the rhythm of the arm

riods in twelve-point type. The lump at the bas

nswered Doc's question. "Durwood spent a lot of time here

and they carried him out and laid him on a low dune.

econd circle could be ten times as large, as the infection spread from on

angements for them to spend the night in a deserted house. But the figure of the runner and his own

te more tired than you think. Anyhow, I thought you t

rily. He'd been over every chemical and combination a dozen times, witho

el of his hand. "There are other supplies. Jake, do you hav

e rear left windo

men now. It's safer if I go alone-and I'm the only one who knows what supplies a

testing, but Doc overruled him sharply. Three men could no more fight of

ow. If people realize they're already safe or doomed it'll

And damn it, get back here, Doc. If you can't make it

s open, and the little shops were brightly lighted. He stopped once to pull a copy o

ters in its lauding of the role of Medical Lobby on Mars for no apparent reason. The death notic

seemingly quiet there. At his knock, the shade was drawn back, and he caught a brief glimps

up, I think. Wha

e me until it's safe to get in

en and Chris stood beyond it, h

r letter, I knew you'd swallow the bait. You bloody fool! Did you reall

nk. "So this is a fool's errand, then

your spies would report it, so it had to be he

late, and his boot hit the gun savagely, knocking it from her hand. Life in the villages had hardened him surprisingly. She was comparatively helpless in his

, there was no rage in her voice now. "You won'

"And I got away and lived when you left me wi

enough to be helped at the spaceport? Who hired a fool like Matthews so you wouldn't get the death sentence you deserv

n had returned to give it to him. But in that case, Chris couldn't know of it. Then he hardened himself again. In the o

around, Moll

cluding the electron mike-a beautiful little portable model. There was even a small incubator with its own heat source into which he immediately transferred the

ith almost no expression. "You can wriggle your chair to the phone in half an hour, I guess. Knock the

th it," she told him a

e time to find an answer to the plague you won't see under your nose. But

ut now Molly's work was done, and she'd have to disappear into the villages. He let her off at the first village and drove on alone. He

e motor idling and pulled down the shades the villagers used for blackout traveling. The

of smears and cultures he had brought. It had been years since he'd made a f

chamber. He had the magnetic "lenses" set for twenty thousand power, but a

ere there, clea

d set the microphone where he could dictate into it without stopping to make cl

three tiny darker sections; each was a cell, comple

a quick glance at the screen was enough. The filaments were there, thickly crowded among nerve cell

robably at first these multiplied directly in epithelial tissue, so that there was a rapid contagion of infection. Eventually, they must form the filaments that invaded the nerves and caused the brief bodily reaction that was Selznik's migraine. Then the body

s enemy no

ication. He would lose resolution, but he might fi

rating, and there was a thick, acrid odor in the cab. He grabbed for his aspirator, then tried to reach the

s waiting inside the cab with two big Lobby policemen

did a good job on this, don't you think, Dan? I warned you, but you wouldn't listen. And

s the tractor began moving wit

you think Medical Lobby can't check on such simple things? Or didn't you expect us to hear of your open talk of revolt and realiz

nth-enough to keep him unconscious for twenty-four hours. He started