It that the of was in the air. The men were cadaverous. Lights came on, and stark, black upon the ground. Calhoun's were uniformed, but the upon them. Where the lights upon their faces, their were hollow. They were emaciated. And there were the of of which Calhoun had heard. The leader of the group was blue, for two which in the than white.
"Out!" said that man savagely. "We're taking over your stock of food. You'll your of it, like else, but—out!"
Maril spoke over Calhoun's shoulder. She a or two. It should have to identification, but there was in the the party.
"Oh, you're one of us, eh?" said the guard-leader sardonically. "You'll have a to prove that! Come out of there!"
Calhoun spoke abruptly;
"This is a Med Ship," he said. "There are and cultures, it. They shouldn't be with. Here on Dara you've had of plagues!"
The man with the hand said as as before;
"I said the government was taking over your ship! It won't be looted. But you're not taking a full of food away! In fact, it's not likely you're leaving!"
"I want to speak to someone in authority," Calhoun. "We've just come from Weald." He all about him as he named Weald. "There's there. They're talking about here. It's that I talk to somebody with the authority to take a precautions!"
He to the ground. There was a "Chee! Chee!" from him, and Murgatroyd came to up his and to his neck.
"What's that?"
"A tormal," said Calhoun. "He's not a pet. Your medical men will know something about him. This is a Med Ship and I'm a Med Ship man, and he's an of the crew. He's a Med Ship and he with me!"
The man with the hand said harshly;
"There's somebody waiting to ask you questions. Here!"
A ground-car came out from the of the landing-grid enclosure. The ground-car ran on wheels, and were not much used on modern worlds. Dara was the times in more than one.
"This car will take you to Defense and you can tell them anything you want. But don't try to in this ship! It'll be guarded!"
The ground-car was enclosed, with room for a driver and the three from the Med Ship. But men themselves about its and it and to the ground-layer of the grid. It rolled out under them and there was highway. It up speed.
There were on either of the road, but lights. This was night-time, and the men at the landing-grid had set a pattern of hunger, so that the and the dark did not a of and sleep, but of and despair. The were few, by with other worlds, and the ground-car needed lights of its own to its driver over a surface that needed repair. By those moving lights other be seen. Untidiness. Buildings not up to perfection. Evidences of apathy. The road hadn't been lately. There was here and there.
Even the that there were no added to the of and and—ultimately—of hunger.
Maril spoke to the driver.
"The isn't any better?"
He moved his in negation, but did not speak.
"I left—two years ago," said Maril. "It was just then. Rationing hadn't started then—."
The driver said evenly;
"There's now!"
The car on and on. A open space appeared ahead. Lights about its and pale.
"E-everything seems—worse. Even the lights."
"Using all the power," said the driver, "to warm up ground to where it ought to be winter. Not doing too well, either."
Calhoun knew, somehow, that Maril her lips.
"I—was sent," she to the driver, "to go on Trent and then make my way to Weald. I—mailed reports of what I out to Trent. Somebody got them to here whenever—it was possible."
The driver said;
"Everybody the man on Trent disappeared. Maybe he got caught, maybe somebody saw him without makeup. Or maybe he just being one of us. What's the difference? No use!"
Calhoun himself a little. The driver was not angry. He was hopeless. But men should not despair. They shouldn't accept from those about them as a device of for their destruction. They shouldn't ...
Maril said to him;
"You understand? Dara's a heavy-metals planet. There aren't many light in our soil. Potassium is scarce. So our ground isn't very fertile. Before the Plague we and for of food and potash. But since the Plague we've had no off-planet commerce. We've been—quarantined."
"I as much," said Calhoun. "It was up to Med Service to see that that didn't happen. It's up to Med Service now to see that it stops."
"Too late now for anything," said the driver, "whatever Med Service may be! They're talking about our population so there'll be food for some to live. There are two questions about it: who's to be alive and why."
The ground-car now for a of lights on the of the great open space. They as they nearer. Maril said hesitantly;
"There was someone—Korvan—" Calhoun didn't catch the of the name, Maril said hesitantly; "He was on food-plants. I—thought he might something ..."
The driver said caustically;
"Sure! Everybody's about him! He came up with a thing! He and his out a way to so they can be eaten. And they can. You can your and not hungry, but it's like hay. You just the same. He's still working. Head of a government division."
The ground-car passed through a gate. It stopped a door. The men to its off. They Calhoun closely as he out with Murgatroyd on his shoulder.
Minutes later they a hastily-summoned group of officials of the Darian government. For a ship to land on Dara was so an event that it called for a cabinet meeting. And Calhoun noted that they were no than the at the space-port.
They Calhoun and Maril with eyes. It was, of course, the two of them no of hunger. They had not been on rations.
"My name is Calhoun," said Calhoun briskly. "I've the Med Service credentials. Now ..."
He did not wait to be questioned. He told them of the of in the Twelfth Sector of the Med Service, so that men had been from other to the intolerable, and he was one of them. He told of his at Weald and what had there, from the that he prove he was not a Darian, to the of the death-ship from Orede. He was them the news them, as they had not it before.
He on to tell of his stop at Orede and his purpose, and his with the men he there. When he there was silence. He it.
"Now," he said, "Maril's an agent of yours. She can add to what I've told you. I'm Med Service. I have a job to do here to repair what wasn't done before. I should make a health and make for the of the of things. I'll be if you'll for me to talk to your health officials. Things look bad, and something should be done."
Someone laughed without mirth.
"What will you for long-continued undernourishment?" he asked derisively. "That's our health problem!"
"I food," said Calhoun.
"Where'll you the prescription?"
"I've the answer to that, too," said Calhoun curtly. "I'll want to talk to any space-pilots you've got. Get your together and I think they'll approve my idea."
The was totally skeptical.
"Orede ..."
"Not Orede," said Calhoun. "Weald will be that over for Darians. If they any, they'll here."
"Our only space-pilots," said a tall man, presently, "are on Orede now. If you've told the truth, they'll of your warning. They should meat."
His mouth peculiarly, and Calhoun that it was at the of food.
"Which," said another man sharply, "goes to the hospitals! I haven't meat in two years!"
"Nobody has," another man still. "But here's this man Calhoun. I'm not he can work magic, but we can out if he lies. Put a on his ship. Otherwise let our health men give him his head. They'll out if he's from this Medical Service he tells of! And this Maril—"
"I—can be identified," said Maril. "I was sent to and sent it in to one of us on Trent. I have a family here. They'll know me! And I—there was someone who was on foods, and I he—made it possible to use—all of for food. He will identify me."
Someone laughed harshly.
"Oh, yes!" said a man with a forehead. "He's a valuable man! Within the year he's come up with a way to make his taste like any food one chooses. If we decide to cut our population, we'll give the people to be all they want to eat of his products. They'll not be hungry. They'll be happy. But they'll die for of nourishment. He's to prove it painless by going through it himself!"
Maril swallowed.
"I'd like to see him," she repeated. "And my family."
Some of the blue-splotched men away. A broad-shouldered man said bluntly;
"Don't look for them to be to see you. And you'd not in public. You've been well fed. You'll be for that."
Maril to cry. Murgatroyd said bewilderedly;
"Chee! Chee!"
Calhoun him close. There was confusion. And Calhoun the Minister of Health at hand—he looked most of all the officials to question Calhoun—and that he a look at the hospital right away.
It wasn't practical. With all the population on or less, when night came people needed to sleep. Most people, indeed, slept as many hours out of the twenty-four as they manage. It was much more to sleep than to be and at by hunger. And there was the of decency. Continuous had an upon everyone. Quarrelsomeness was a common experience. And people who would be the of opinion they were by of food. It was best when people slept.
Still, Calhoun was in the by daybreak. What he moved him to anger. There were too many children. In every case to their sickness. And there was not food to make them well. Doctors and themselves food to it for their patients.
Calhoun out and and from the Med Ship while the in the ship looked on. He the of and that such small to be indefinitely. He was by a appetite. There were some doctors who the of medical being to non-nutritional disease, when was half-fed, or less. They of Calhoun. They of Murgatroyd when Calhoun his function.
He was, of course, a Med Service tormal, and were of talent. They'd originally been on a in the Deneb area, and they were and small animals, but the about them was that they couldn't any disease. Not any. They had a built-in, to and toxins, and there hadn't yet been any to which a not more or less antibody-resistance. So that in medicine were priceless. Let Murgatroyd be with localized, an organism, and presently some valuable be from his blood and he'd in his good health. When the was by those of the Service had developed,—why—that was that. The be and one attack any with confidence.
The for Dara was, of course, that no Med Ship had come there, three ago, when the Dara raged. Worse, after the Weald was able to pressure which only a Med Service would have permitted. But and its was what Calhoun had been to Sector Twelve to help remedy.
He was not at ease, though. No ship from Orede to out his account of an attempt to that world Weald it had on it. Maril had vanished, to visit or return to her family, or to with the Korvan who'd for her to Dara to be a spy, and had her to make a new life else, a famine-ridden, despised, and world. Calhoun had learned of two the same Korvan had for his world. Neither was constructive. He'd offered to prove the value of the second by of it. Which might make him a very character, or he have a for martyrdom,—which is much more common than most people think. In two days Calhoun was from to the of him.
And there was Weald to worry about. Weald was to end what it the for once and for all. There were to such in the history of Earth. A word still in the to it. Genocide.
Meanwhile Calhoun doggedly; in the while the were and in the Med Ship—under guard—afterward. He had now, but he a plastic with a in it. He at his store of it. He'd of skin from in the hospitals, and the areas, and very, very a theory. It took an to do it, but he a in the which matched the type on Tralee. The Tralee had which were passed on from mother to child, and had been with the results of quasi-living particles. And then Calhoun very, very into a the material he had been in a plastic cube. He what happened.
He was satisfied, so much so that he managed to off to bed.
That night the ship from Orede came in, packed with of cattle. Calhoun nothing of it. But next Maril came back. There were under her and her was of someone who has that had meaning in her life.
"I'm all right," she insisted, when Calhoun commented. "I've been visiting my family. I've seen—Korvan. I'm all right."
"You haven't any than I have," Calhoun observed.
"I—couldn't!" Maril. "My sisters—my little sisters—so thin.... There's for and it's all arranged. They had for me. But I couldn't eat! I—gave most of my food to my sisters and they—squabbled over it!"
Calhoun said nothing. There was nothing to say. Then she said in a no less tone;
"Korvan said I was to come back."
"He be right," said Calhoun.
"But I had to!" Maril. "Because I—I've been all I wanted to, on Weald and in the ship, and I'm they're half-starved and I'm not. And when you see what to them ... It's terrible to be half-starved and not able to think of anything but food!"
"I hope," said Calhoun, "to do something about that. If I can of an or two."
"The—ship that was on Orede came in the night," Maril told him shakily. "It was with meat, but one ship-load's not to make a on a whole planet! And if Weald for us on Orede, we daren't go for more meat."
She said abruptly;
"There are some prisoners. They were miners. They were out of the ship. The Darians who'd the took them prisoners. They had to!"
"True," said Calhoun. "It wouldn't have been wise to Wealdians around on Orede with their cut. Or living, either, to tell about a of blueskins. Even if their will be cut now. Is that the program?"
Maril shivered.
"No ... They'll be put on like else. And people will watch them. The Wealdians to die of any minute they've been with Darians. So people look at them and laugh. But it's not funny."
"It's natural," said Calhoun, "but in charity. Look here! How about those astrogators? I need them for a job I have in mind."
Maril her hands.
"C—come here," she said in a low tone.
There was an in the control-room of the ship. He'd Calhoun a good part of the previous day as Calhoun performed his work. He'd been off-duty and now was on again. He was bored. So long as Calhoun did not touch the control-board, though, he was uninterested. He didn't turn his when Maril the way into the other and the door shut.
"The are coming," she said swiftly. "They'll some boxes with them. They'll ask you to them so they can our ship better. They themselves from Orede, no, they didn't themselves, but they time—enough time almost to make an for meat. They need to be experts. I'm to come along, so they can be sure that what you teach them is what you've been doing right along."
Calhoun said;
"Well?"
"They're crazy!" said Maril vehemently. "They Weald would do something sooner or later. But they're going to try to stop it by more sooner! Not agrees, but there are enough. So they want to use your ship—it's in and so on. And they'll go to Weald—in this ship—and—they say they'll give Weald something to keep it without us!"
Calhoun said drily;
"This pays me off for being too with blueskins! But if I'd been for a of years, and was to by the people who me hungry, I I might the same way. No," he said as she opened her to speak again. "Don't tell me the trick. Considering everything, there's only one it be. But I that it would work. All right."
He the door and returned to the control-room. Maril him. He said detachedly;
"I've been on a problem of the food one. It isn't the time to talk about it right now, but I think I've solved it."
Maril her head, listening. There were on the the ship. Both doors of the were open. Four men came in. They were men who did not look as as most Darians, but there was a for that. Their leader himself and the others. They were the of the ship Dara had to try to food from Orede. They were not good enough, said their self-appointed leader. They their destination. They came out of too off line. They needed instructions.
Calhoun nodded, and that he'd been for them.
"We've got orders," said their leader, steadily, "to come on and learn from you how to this ship. It's than the one we've got."
"I asked for you," Calhoun. "I've an idea I'll as we go along. Those boxes?"
Someone was in iron boxes through the airlock. One of the four very them inside.
"They're rations," said a second man. "We don't go without rations—except Orede."
"Orede, yes. I think we were at each other there," said Calhoun pleasantly. "Weren't we?"
"Yes," said the man.
He was neither antagonistic. He was impassive. Calhoun shrugged.
"Then we can take off immediately. Here's the and there's the button. You might call the and for us to be lifted."
The man seated himself at the control-board. Very professionally, he through the of preparing to by landing-grid, which has not in two hundred years. He ahead until the order to lift. Then Calhoun stopped him.
"Hold it!"
He pointed to the airlock. Both doors were open. The man at the control-board vividly. One of the others closed and the doors.
The ship lifted. Calhoun with negligence. But he occasion for a dozen of procedure. This was a of his own suggestion. Therefore when the pilot would have the Med Ship into overdrive, Calhoun stern. He on a destination. He Weald. The men at each other and the suggestion. He the acting pilot look up the of its sun and measure its from just off Dara. He him the in to be after so many hours in overdrive, if one out to measure.
The student pilot ended a Calhoun-determined of with more of respect for Calhoun than he'd had at the beginning. The second was to up than the first. Calhoun him in the use of brightness-charts, by which the in of be with to give a three-dimensional picture of the nearer heavens. It was a necessary art which had not been out on Dara, and the in this and other points of space-piloting. They'd done enough, in a to Orede, to that they needed to know more. Calhoun them.
Calhoun did not try to make easy for them. He was and easily annoyed. It was to be severe, and to phrase all as commands. He put the four men in of the ship in turn, under his direction. He to use Weald as a destination, but he set up problems in which the Med Ship came out of pointing in an unknown direction and with a motion. He the third of his students identify Weald in the hundreds of millions of stars, and on in toward it. The fourth was to the to Weald from such data as he from observation, without to any records.
By this time the man was to take a second turn. Calhoun gave each of them a second lesson. He gave them, in fact, a but very in the art of travel in space. His students took in four-hour watches, with at least one from in each watch. He up in them. They the of being hungry, though there had been no for them to on food in Orede—in in what they came to know.
When Weald was a first-magnitude star, the four were not astrogators, to be sure, but they were than at the beginning. Inevitably, their toward Calhoun was respectful. He'd been and right. To the young, the is impressive.
Maril had as only. In she was to Calhoun's lessons with his when alone. But he did nothing on this which—teaching considered—was different from the two Maril had with him. She the sleeping-cabin two of the six of each ship-day. She the food-readier, which was almost of its original store of food;—confiscated by the government of Dara. That amount of food would make no to the planet, but it was wise for on Dara to be ill-fed.
On the day out from Dara, the sun of Weald had a of five-tenths.[A] The its larger planets, a gas-giant fifth-orbit world of high albedo. Calhoun had his four students its again, pointing out the that be in position if the Med Ship were mis-aimed by as much as one second of arc.
"That it," Calhoun cheerfully. "That's the last order I'll give you. You're from here on! Relax and have some coffee."
"And now," said Calhoun, "I you'll tell me the truth about those boxes you on board. You said they were rations, but they haven't been opened in six days. I have an idea what they mean, but you tell me."
The four looked uncomfortable. There was a long pause.
"They be," said Calhoun detachedly, "cultures to be on Weald. Weald is making plans to out Dara. So some has to Weald too a of its own to with you. Is that right?"
The men uneasily. "Well—l—l, sir," said one of them, unhappily, "that's what we were ordered to do."
"I object," said Calhoun. "It wouldn't work. I just left Weald a little while back, remember. They've been telling themselves that some day Dara would try that. They've to any you on them. Every so often somebody it's happening. It wouldn't work."
"But—"
"In fact," said Calhoun, "I will not permit you to do anything of the kind."
One of the men, at Calhoun, suddenly. His closed. He his and looked bewildered. A second into a chair. He said remotely, "Thish sfunny!" and to sleep. The third his away. He paid attention to them, them. But they like and he slowly to the floor. The fourth said with difficulty, yet reproachfully;
"'Thought y'were our frien'!"
He collapsed.
Calhoun very them hand and and them out on the floor. Maril watched, white-faced, her hand to her throat. "What have you done to them? Are they dead?"
"No," said Calhoun, "just drugged. They'll wake up presently."
Maril said in a and whisper;
"You're—betraying us! You're going to take us to Weald."
"No," said Calhoun. "We'll only around it. First, though, I want to of those packed-up cultures. They're dead, by the way. I killed them with a of days ago, while a was going on about distance-measurements by Cepheids of period."
He put the four boxes in the waste-disposal unit. He it. The boxes and their out to space in the of and other vapors. Calhoun sat at the control-desk.
"I'm a Med Service man," he said detachedly. "I couldn't in the spread of plague, anyhow, though a useful might be another matter. But the thing right now is not Weald with to their of Dara. It's some food for Dara. And won't help. What's needed is in thousands of tons,—or of thousands." Then he said; "Overdrive coming, Murgatroyd! Hold fast!"
The vanished. The the change. Murgatroyd burped.
[A]Earth's sun, from Earth, is of thirty-six.
