From the of Darians, the of Calhoun's and the to him were enough. Maril fiercely, and her with Calhoun's in every respect, but from a their own were damning.
Calhoun had taken four to space. They were the only semi-skilled space-pilots Dara had. There were no men. Calhoun had asked for them, and taken them out to emptiness, and there he had them in modern guidance-methods for ships of space. So there was no disagreement. He'd to make them more pilots; more of a ship to Orede, for example, to the cattle-herds there. And he'd had them drive the Med Ship to Weald, against which there be no objection.
But just he had all four of them by them coffee. He'd the they'd been ordered to on Weald. Then he'd sent the four student off separately—so he and Maril claimed—in ships with grain. But those ships were not to be in, anyhow. Nobody on Dara stores of food up and away it was useless; to keep up prices. Nobody in of to be had for the taking. They did know that the only four space-pilots on Dara had been taken away and by Calhoun's own sent out of the ship after they'd been drugged. Had they been trained, and had they been helped or permitted to the of on Weald, and had they come prepared to pass on to other men to other space-ships now being in places on Dara,—why—then Dara might have a of survival. But a space-battle with only would be at best. With no at all, it would be hopeless. So Calhoun, by his own story, appeared to have every being on Dara to from the of Weald.
It was this last which any of in such fairy-tale objects as ships with grain. Calhoun had Dara's of resistance. Weald had some ships and or others than Dara to them. Equally important, Weald had a of to man some ships and train the of others. If it had plague, then a to life on Dara would be delayed. Dara might have time at least to ships which their and them that way.
But Calhoun had it impossible. If he told the truth and Weald already had a of ships which only needed to be of and with and men—why—Dara was doomed. But if he did not tell the truth it was by his actions. So Calhoun would be killed.
His was to take place in the open space of the landing-grid, with vision-cameras the over all the planet. Half-starved men, with on their skins, him to the center of the largest level space on the which was not being cultivated. Their in their expressions. Bitterness and Calhoun like a wall. Most of Dara would have liked to see him killed in a manner as as his crime, but no death would be satisfying.
So the was businesslike, with not offered to him. He was left to alone in the very center of the landing-grid floor. There were a hundred which would fire upon him at the same instant. He would not only be killed; he would be destroyed. He would be by the blue-white upon him.
His death was close. Nothing but the order to fire, when from the landing-grid office everything. One of the grain-ships from Weald had out of and its pilot was calling for landing-coördinates. The office his call to as the way to it on the of the whole planet.
"Calling ground," the voice of the of the student Calhoun had trained. "Calling ground! Pilot Franz in ship coördinates for landing! Purpose of landing, to deliver a of from the enemy!"
At first, nobody it. But the pilot be on vision. He was known. No would be left alive long to be used as a by the men of Weald! Presently the ship on its second to Dara—the had been a ago, when it death and destruction—appeared as a dark in the sky. It came and down, and presently it over the center of the tarmac, where Calhoun on the spot where he was to have been executed.
The landing-grid the ship to one side, and only then did Calhoun in a fashion toward the Med Ship by the grid's metal-lace wall.
The big ship touched ground, and its exit-port and opened, and the student pilot there and out of grain. There was a swarming, yelling, crowd, then, where only minutes there'd been a waiting to when Calhoun's into flame.
They no longer Calhoun, but he had to his way to the Med Ship, nevertheless. He was by now-ecstatically citizens of Dara, only minutes since they'd for his blood.
Two hours after the ship, a second landed. Dara wild again. Four hours later still, the third arrived. The fourth came on the day.
Then Calhoun the executive and cabinet of Dara for the second time. His and manner were very dry.
"Now," he said curtly, "I would like a more to train. I think it likely that we can the Wealdian grain-fleet one time more, and in so doing the of a for defense. I insist, however, that it must not be used in combat! We might as well be about this situation! After all, four of won't the famine! They'll help a lot, but they're only the of what's needed for a population!"
"How much can we for?" a man with a mark all his chin.
Calhoun told him.
"How long Weald can have a overhead, bombs?" another, grimly.
Calhoun named a time. But then he said;
"I think we can keep them from if we can the grain-fleet and some astrogators."
"What do you have in mind?"
He told them. It was not possible to tell the whole of what he behavior. An program can be presented and immediately. A plan of action which is actually intelligent, all of a situation, has to be piecemeal. Even so, the men growled.
"We've of elements," said one, with one and his blue. "If we'd used our brains, we'd have more than Weald can for! We turn that whole into a cinder!"
"Which," said Calhoun acidly, "would give you some but not an of food! And food's more than satisfaction. Now, I'm going to take off for Weald again. I'll want somebody to an device for my ship, and I'll want the four I've and twenty more candidates. And I'd like to have some rations! When the last two of grain, you can food for twenty men for a days!"
It took some time to the special device constructed, but the Med Ship in two days more. The device for which it had waited was a of the the ship from the mine on Orede. It was a of liquid oxygen, packed in the space from which stores had been taken away. When the ship's air-supply was past it, and then CO2 out. Then the air over the at a to replace the CO2 with more useful material. Then the was to the air as it again. For so long as the lasted, fresh air for any number of men be and breathable. The Med Ship's normal take of no more than ten. But with this it to Weald with almost any on board.
Maril on Dara when the Med Ship left. Murgatroyd when he her about to be closed out by the lock-door.
"Chee!" he said indignantly. "Chee! Chee!"
"No," said Calhoun, "we'll be anyhow. We'll see her later."
He to one of the four student pilots, and he with the landing-grid office. He very as the took the ship up. The other three of the four first-trained men every move to sub-classes to each. Calhoun moved about, and making that the was up to standard.
He queer, acting as the of an in space. He did not like it. There were twenty-four men himself into the Med Ship's small interior. They got in each other's way. They on each other. There was always somebody eating, and always somebody sleeping, and there was no need for the tape to keep the ship from being quiet. But the air-system well enough, once when the unit and the air the ship the trouble be and corrected.
The to Weald, this time, took seven days of the program in effect. Calhoun his over the delay. But it was necessary for each of the students to make his own line-ups on Weald's sun, and distances, and for each of them to that would presently be called for. Calhoun that for active warfare—or massacre—did not move fast on Weald. He believed, however, that in the of direct news from Dara, Wealdian officials would take the normal of politicos. They had the from Orede an attack from Dara. Therefore they would on for offense. They'd patrol-ships out to spot ships long they on a to the blueskins. It would meet the public for defense.
Calhoun was right. The Med Ship its final approach to Weald under Calhoun's own control. He'd brightness-measurements on his previous and he used them again. They would not be accurate, a all meaning out of any reading two places. But the was just from the Wealdian for Calhoun to be able to out its with at maximum magnification. He for Weald itself,—allowing, of course, for the in the motion of its image of the limited speed of light. He the of hops, and came out the and well any patrol.
That was pure fortune. It continued. He'd through the screen of guard-ships in overdrive. He was an hour's solar-system drive of the grain-fleet. There was no alarm, at first. Of the Med Ship as an object, but nobody paid attention. It was not for Weald. It was to be a guard-boat itself. Such mistakes do happen. It the grain-fleet.
Again from the storage-space from which had been removed, Calhoun produced suits. The four students out, each a less-accustomed and all together with space-ropes. They the of four ships and on to others. Presently there were eight ships making for an journey, each with a but new pilot himself with its controls. There were sixteen ships. Twenty. Twenty-three.
A guard-ship came out from Weald. It would be armed, of course. It came droning, up the forty-odd thousand miles from the planet. Calhoun swore. He not call his students and tell them what was happening. The guard-ship would overhear. He not trust men to act if they were and the guard-ship and matter-of-factly to one of them.
Then he was inspired. He called Murgatroyd, him the communicator, and set it at voice-only transmission. This was familiar enough, to Murgatroyd. He'd often Calhoun use a communicator.
"Chee!" Murgatroyd. "Chee-chee!"
A voice came out of the speaker.
"What's that?"
"Chee," said Murgatroyd zestfully.
The was talking to him. Murgatroyd three in order. One was Calhoun. The second was coffee. The third was to like a being. The said explosively;
"You there, identify yourself!"
"Chee-chee-chee-chee!" Murgatroyd. He with and added, enough, "Chee!"
The bawled;
"Calling ground! Calling ground! Listen to this! Something that ain't human's talking at me on a communicator! Listen in an' tell me what to do!"
Murgatroyd with another shrill;
"Chee!"
Then Calhoun the Med Ship slowly away from the of still-lifeless grain-ships. It was that the guard-boat would an telescope. Most likely it would have only an echo-radar, and so only that an object of some moved of its own in space. Calhoun let the Med Ship accelerate. That would be final evidence. The grain-ships were Weald and its sun. Even on the ground—and electron-telescopes were with amplification—even on the ground not a good image of the ship through atmosphere.
"Chee?" asked Murgatroyd solicitously. "Chee-chee-chee?"
"Is it blueskins?" the voice from the guard-boat. "Ground! Ground! Is it blueskins?"
A heavy, voice came in with much volume.
"That's no voice," it said harshly. "Approach its ship and send an image. Don't fire unless it for ground."
The guard-ship and for the Med Ship. It was still a very long way off.
"Chee-chee," said Murgatroyd encouragingly.
Calhoun the Med Ship's course. The guard-ship too. Calhoun let it nearer,—but only a little. He it away from the of grain-ships.
He his on them. He saw a space-suited one,—safely roped, however. It was easy to that someone had meant to return to the Med Ship for orders or to make a report, and the Med Ship gone. He'd go and turn on a communicator.
"Chee!" said Murgatroyd.
The voice boomed;
"You there! This is a human-occupied world! If you come in peace, cut your drive and let our guard-ship approach!"
Murgatroyd in an but tone. The voice bellowed. Another voice of higher authority took over. Murgatroyd was that so many people wanted to talk to him. He what for him was an oration. The last voice spoke and suavely.
"Chee-chee-chee-chee," said Murgatroyd.
One of the grain-ships and to be. It had gone into overdrive. Another. And another. Suddenly they to out of by and threes.
"Chee," said Murgatroyd with a note of finality.
The last grain-ship vanished.
"Calling guard-ship," said Calhoun drily. "This is Med ship Aesclipus Twenty. I called here a of ago. You've been talking to my tormal, Murgatroyd."
A pause. A blank pause. Then of and intemperance.
"I've been on Dara," said Calhoun.
Dead fell.
"There's a there," said Calhoun deliberately. "So the grain-ships you've had in have been taken away by men from Dara—blueskins if you like—to themselves and their families. They've been of and they don't like it."
There was a single of the unprintable. Then the voice said waspishly;
"Well? The Med Service will of your interference!"
"Yes," said Calhoun. "I'll report it myself. I have a message for you. Dara is to pay for every of and for the ships it was in. They'll pay in metals,—iridium, uranium,—that of thing."
The voice curdled.
"As if we'd allow anything that was on Dara to touch ground here!"
"Ah! But there can be sterilization. To with metals, melts at 1150° centigrade, and at 3370° and at 2350°. You such and melt them in space and then them home. And you can actually a of other useful materials!"
The voice said infuriatedly;
"I'll report this! You'll for this!"
Calhoun said pleasantly;
"I'm sure that what I say is being recorded, so that I'll add that it's perfectly practical for Wealdians to land on Dara, take property they think wise,—to pay for done by blueskins, of course—and to Wealdian ships with no of contagion. If you'll make sure the recording's clear."
He described, and specifically, how a man be to walk into any area of any contagion, do necessary in the way of looting—but Calhoun did not use the word—and then return to his with no of infection. He gave exact details. Then he said;
"My says you've four ships on me to blast me out of space. I off."
The Med Ship from normal space, and entered that area of which it about itself and in which physical were strange. For one thing, the speed of light in overdrive-stressed space had not been yet. It was too high. For another, a ship travel very many times 186000 miles second in overdrive.
The Med Ship did just that. There was nobody but Calhoun and Murgatroyd on board. There was silence,—there were only the small threshold-of-perception which one did not often notice, but which it would have been to have stop.
Calhoun in privacy. For seven days he'd had twenty-four other beings into the two of the ship, with so much as one of space himself and someone else. One need not be to wish to be alone sometimes!
Murgatroyd his thoughtfully.
"I hope," said Calhoun, "that work out right. But they may on Dara that I'm for some ten of them. Maybe—just possibly—they'll to me and act sensibly. After all, there's only one way to a famine. Not with ten for a whole planet! And not with bombs!"
Driving direct, without for practisings, the Med Ship arrive at Dara in little more than five days. Calhoun looked to relaxation. As a he to give himself an for the time since landing on Dara. Then, presently, he sat to a of Darian famine-rations, which were from appetizing. But there wasn't anything else on board.
He had some later, though, what elsewhere. On Weald, obviously, there would be purest panic. The of the wouldn't be against twenty-four men. A Darian would be suspected, and with the terror, and with terror a crisis. Then there'd be a of any that take to space, and the of a space-fleet.
But that, biological-warfare would Calhoun's for by which men be on a plague-stricken and then safely taken off again. Military and officials would come to the that while Calhoun not well take active against blueskins, as a and proper citizen of the he would be on the of law and order and and justice,—in short, of Weald. So they ordered sample anti-contagion according to Calhoun's directions, and they had them tested. They admirably.
On Dara, while Calhoun to it, was lavishly, and on the had their almost doubled. It was still not a ration, but the was great. There was for Calhoun, which as a of to come. Maril was repeatedly, as the person best able to discuss him, and she did his no harm. That was not all that on Dara ...
There was something else. Very thing, too. There was a spread of mild which nobody call a disease. It only a hours. A person feverish, and ran a temperature which at 30.9° centigrade, and more water than usual. Then his temperature to normal and he all about it. There have always been such epidemics. They are recorded, people think to go to a doctor. That was the case here.
Calhoun looked ahead a little, too. Presently the of grain-ships would arrive and and again for Orede, and this time they would make an of among wild cattle-herds, and of fresh-slaughtered beef. Almost would to taste meat again, which would be most gratifying.
Then, the of Dara would labor at government-required tasks. An amount of material would be into bombs—a by Calhoun—and plastic make an number of plastic sag-suits. And large of in would be to the planet's city and there would be some and minor items....
Perhaps somebody have out any of these in advance, but it was that did. Nobody but Calhoun, however, would have put them together and very urgently that that was the way would work out. He see a promising total result. In fact, in the Med ship through space, on the fourth day of his he of an that be in the of all those when they were put together.
He on Dara. Maril came to the Med Ship. Murgatroyd her with enthusiasm.
"Something has happened," said Maril, very much subdued. "I told you that—sometimes out on children, and then neither they their children have again."
"Yes," said Calhoun. "I remember."
"And you were of a group of on Tralee. You said they only took of people in physical condition, but then they be passed on from mother to child. Until—sometimes—they died out."
Calhoun blinked.
"Yes...."
"Korvan," said Maril very carefully, "Has out an idea that that's what to the on—us Darians. He thinks that people almost of the the—virus, and if they from the pass the on and—be blueskins."
"Interesting," said Calhoun, noncommittally.
"And when we to Weald," said Maril very indeed, "you were with some culture-material. You a about it in the ship's log. You gave an injection. Remember? And Murgatroyd? You your temperature, and Murgatroyd's?" She her lips. "You said that if passed us, something would be very indeed?"
"What are you at?"
Maril slowly. "Th—thousands of people are having their pigment-spots away. Not only children but grownups. And—Korvan has out that it always to after a day when they and very thirsty—and then all right again. You out something that you and thirsty. I had it too, in the ship. Korvan thinks there's been an of something that—is the on that it. There are always that nobody notices. Korvan's of one that's making 'blueskin' no longer a word with any meaning."
"Remarkable!" said Calhoun.
"Did you—do it?" asked Maril. "Did you start a that—wipes out the that makes blueskins?"
Calhoun said in astonishment;
"How can you think such a thing, Maril?"
"Because I was there," said Maril. She said somehow desperately; "I know you did it! But the question is—are you going to tell? When people they're not any longer—when there's no such thing as a any longer—will you tell them why?"
"Naturally not," said Calhoun. "Why?" Then he guessed. "Has Korvan—."
"He thinks," said Maril, "that he it up all by himself. He's the proof. He's—very proud. I'd have to tell him the truth if you were going to tell. And he'd be and—angry."
Calhoun considered, at her.
"How it doesn't matter," he said at last. "The idea of doing it would be disturbing, too. It shouldn't about. So it much the best thing for Korvan to what's to the pigment, and how it happened, but not why."
She read his carefully.
"You aren't doing it as a to me," she decided. "You'd it was that way."
She looked at him for a long time, until he squirmed. Then she and away.
An hour later the Wealdian space-fleet was reported, in space and for Dara.
