Pariah Planet

to scare easily, where blueskins might be involved. Its children were trained to react explosively when the word "blueskin" was uttered in their hearing, and its adults tended to say "bl

n of his fellow-citizens was that by entering the ship he might have become contaminated by blueskin infective material if the plague still existed, and if the men in the ship had caught it-but they certainly hadn't died of it-and if there had be

space-suit, after which the chlorine and steam should be bled out to space, and air from the ship let into the lock. If he stripped off the space-suit without touching its outer surface, and re

neral considered that he'd persuaded the

n, citing not only the ship from Orede but other incidents which they interpreted as crimes against Weald. They demanded that all Wealdian atomic reactors be modified to turn out fusion-bomb materials while a space-fleet was made ready for an anti-bluesk

r the Interstellar Medical Service. And Calhoun furiously demanded a chance to deny it by broadcast, and he ma

had come. The landing-grid locked on, raised the small space-craft until Weald was a great shining ball below it, and then somehow s

nation, his face very

gatroyd! Over

silence. The Med Ship actually moved at a rate which was a preposterous number of times the speed of light, but it felt absolutely solid, absolutely firm and fixed. A ship in overdrive feels exactly as if it were bu

from sounding like a grave. The reel played and the speakers gave off minute creakings, and meaningless hum

not only a physical affair. There is mental health, also. When mental health goes a civilization can be destroyed more surely and more terribly than by any imaginable war or plague

jammed themselves into a cargo-boat which could not furnish them with air to breathe, and too

oun dourly, "that I'

tch the coffee-maker with bright, interested eyes. He'd even tried to imitate Calhoun's m

his long tail coiled reflectively about a chair-leg.

id Calhoun. "I m

hrilled M

as part of the means by which a man was able to be alone for weeks on end-alone save for his tormal-without becoming ship-happy. There were other carefully thought out item

ely with Weald in its enmity to blueskins. The people of Weald had refused to help Dara in a time of famine; they'd blockaded that pariah world for years afterward; they had other reasons

there would be no danger of any report favorable to Dara ever being presented anywhere. If so, such a st

where it would be handy. He filled a small cup for Murgatro

in door, standing aside lest

said sardonically. "C

g pause. Calhou

e," he said more sardonically still.

c's desperate attempt to do murder despite premature

ls. The door of the cabin slid slowly aside. A girl appeared

y. She moistened her lips. "You didn't see me! I w

n said

nformation." He po

. Her eyes went from

ou want to tell me your story?

ily. "Just-I-I need to get to Orede, and you'r

leet heading for Orede as soon as it can be assembled and arm

vered a

nning a

. "In that case I'

"I'll-I'll die first! I'l

e was a tiny blaster in it. But it

t out the

stowaway was a girl. Now he had to make another when her threat was not to kill him but to disable the ship. W

"Besides, you'd get deadly bored if we were stuck in

tever, felt it necessary to e

-chee

own and have a cup of coffee." To the girl he said, "I'll ta

's a boy

shook

ody dead. But not all. And there's been no check of what men were in the ship and what men weren't. You wouldn't go to Or

little, but s

t under

go around trying to keep people from getting killed. It's our profession. We practise it even on our own behalf. We want to stay

anything I've said!

'll probably tell us something more beli

terd

punch the readier for such-and-such dishes, to be extracted from storage and

up the planet Orede. He was headed there, but he'd had no reason to infor

tched with highly amiable interest.

as no adequate account of a plague which had wiped out three-quarters of the population of an inhabited planet! It had happened shortly after one Med Ship visit, and was over before another Med Ship came by. But there should have been painstaking investigation, even after the fact. There should have been a collection of

ch to occupy himself during overdrive travel from one planet to another. Calhoun made use of those resources. H

discovery, she

eas

n look

es

exactly how

e's a cabin. When you're sleepy, use it. Murgatroyd and I can make out quite well here. When you're hungry, you now know h

ared a

believe what

n. But he didn't ad

he police were after me. I had to get

ok his

ept that you were a thief. You're not ready to tell the truth yet. You d

s if to speak again, but then she went i

climbed up into Calhoun's lap, with complete assurance of welco

he

e conditioning she'd have had, there'd be only one place she'd dread worse than

He liked to pretend that he carr

he said wit

er personal advantage. Whatever she thinks she's doing, i

rgatroyd in an

ave a suspicion that somebody's been shooting them. Lots of them. Do you agre

led himself still more com

he said

s where they have no natural enemies. It wasn't unheard-of for a world to be stocked with useful types of Terran fauna and flora before it was attempted to be colonized. Terran life-forms could play the devil with alie

to pack themselves frantically aboard a cargo-ship which couldn't possibl

ew as a dozen head of cattle, turned loose on a suitable planet, would have increased to herds

ight to be seen outside, with no evidence at all that it was not buried deep in the heart o

un when she appeared in the control-room. "S

y n

impression that he would respond politely when spoken to, but tha

ship-time,

l we get

tly, as if he were thi

pened there? I mean, to mak

with the authorities on Weald. I don't think

are blu

round and looked

much by what you pretend isn't, as by what

you think they

everybody would catch smallpox sooner or later, and a large percentage would die of it. And it was so much a matter of course that if they printed a description of a criminal, they never mentioned it if he were pock-marke

think they

n," said Calhoun. "Maybe pithecanthropus had a mon

that day. He continued to busy himself with those activities w

asked without

ed for the ship with the dead men to a

said C

hy

So that would be no good. And plague-stricken living men wouldn't try to conceal that they had the plague. They might ask for help, but they'd know they'd

to blueskins?" she

word 'blueskin' you should say it uncomfortably, as if it were a word no refined person liked to pronounce. You

nite ideas about her, by now. He carefully kept them tentative, but no girl born and raised on Weald would willingly go to Orede, with all of Weald believing that a shipload

s due to break out from overdri

to thank you. I-didn't really bel

aised his

t to know," she added regretfully. "I think

said cau

-the people of Dara have made at least one space-ship since Weald threatened them with extermination. There is probably a new food-shortage on Dara now,

snatched out the tiny blaster in her po

!" she cried desper

Nothing happened. Before she could realize that she hadn't turned off t

I'll give this back to you when we

"Thanks? When I t

irmed every one. Now, when we land on Orede I'm going to get you to try to put me in touch with your friends. It's goin

's control-board an

s to break-hou

al amount of attention to Murgatroyd, while the girl was fascinating. They'd made friends, awkwardly on the girl's part, very pleasantly on Murgatroyd's. But only moments a

ed plaintively.

id matter-

as we try to land, we should be able to make frien

was hopeless