by Boyd Ellanby
somehow amused.
"Those who continue to spread gossip about the fever will only revealthemselves as either psychotics or traitors. Whichever they are, theywill be isolated for the good of our society."
The effect of his words was somewhat diminished by the brief glimpsepeople had of Dr. Lanza, who reached a hand to help the Leader rise. ForDr. Lanza wore an anxious frown, and his face was thin with worry.
In spite of numerous arrests, the rumors continued. For two weekssporadic outbreaks of the fever occurred, and then, abruptly, theyceased.
* * * * *
It was more than a week after the last case had been reported that Davidsat in his basement laboratory beside the opened mouse cage, watchingwith wry affection as the furry creatures crawled over his hand. Thesewere historic mice, he reflected, whose reactions to SDE had opened up anew world, a world which he must somehow help to make better than thepresent one.
His three colleagues had returned a few days ago from their holiday.They had calmly come back to work, and apparently nobody had thought toput two and two together, and thus connect the epidemic with thevacationers. It had been unfortunate that Tanya should have been putunder arrest; it was difficult trying to find amusement for Leah so thatshe would keep out of sight, but still, on the whole, their luck hadbeen good.
But it was time for David to go back to work in his office. Gently hedetached the mice from his hand, dropped them into their cage, andclosed the wire trap. He took his leather pencil case and the keys tohis desk from the pocket of his lab coat and laid them on the desk,below the nail on which his wristwatch hung. Carelessly he dropped hislab coat onto the desk and reached for his jacket, then paused,listening.
The chatter in the technicians' room suddenly died. In the unnaturalquiet sounded a steady march of feet.
David turned to meet the probing black eyes of Leader Marley. Justbehind him were Dr. Lanza and Officer Magnun.
There was no time to conceal his mice, David realized. Shrugging intohis jacket, he strode forward without hesitation, a smile on his face,and stretched out his hand.
"Leader Marley! This is indeed an honor. If you had only notified us ofyour visit, we should have been prepared."
"Young as ever, I see, Wong."
"Thank you, Leader." There was no banter in Marley's eyes, he noted, buthe continued amiably. "It has been some years since you have honored usby a visit in person. I'm afraid a laboratory is not a very excitingplace, but I'd be honored to show you anything that may be of interestto you."
A faint contempt curled Marley's mouth as he glanced around the room."Nothing to see that I haven't seen before, is there? A lot of testtubes, a bunch of flasks, a mess of apparatus you'd think had beendreamed up by an idiot, and a bad smell. You still keep animals, Inotice."
He sauntered over to the bench, picked up the cage and looked at thescurrying rodents.
David scarcely breathed.
Marley only nodded. "Well, mice are mice." He put down the cage andturned away. "These look just like the ones I saw when I was here eightor ten years ago. Same white patch on the forelimbs. I never knew micecould live that long."
"But--" began Lanza, bending over to study the mice.
"What an amazing memory you have, Leader," said David. "Just as youguessed, these mice are the direct descendants of the ones you saw onyour former visit, a special mutant strain. The chief difference is thatthese are marked with white patches on the _right_ forelimbs, while, asI am sure you recall, the original specimens were marked on the _left_forelimbs. Odd how these marks run in families, isn't it?"
Lanza put down the cage and strolled toward the door as Marley took alast bored look around.
"Nothing new here that I ought to see, Lanza?"
"No. Nothing new."
"Well, I've no time to waste. I've come here for two reasons, Dr. Wong.We both want a booster shot for Blue Martian. Ten years is a long time,and there's been this epidemic."
"Which is now under control."
"That may be, but I still want a booster. You Research people don'talways know as much as you think you do. When that's done, I want adetailed report of your progress on White Martian."
"I shall be happy to give it," said David. "If you will go directly tomy office, I'll pick up the vaccine and syringes, and be with you in afew minutes."
Marley and Officer Magnun marched to the door, and David followed,standing aside to let Lanza precede him. Lanza hesitated there, staringat the floor. Then he smiled and looked directly at David.
"Beautiful spring weather we are having. I'm wondering about themarvelous order of nature. Did you happen to notice, this morning,whether the Sun did actually rise in the east?"
David stared at the retreating back. There was no longer any doubt inhis mind. Lanza knew. What was he going to do?
"Hurry up, Doctor," said Officer Magnun from the doorway.
"Right away." He opened the refrigerator and inspected the two groups ofred-capped vials sitting on the shelf. He had no time to think, no timeto weigh pros and cons; he could only act. Choosing two vials, he addedthem to the sterile kit from the autoclave, and took a last look around.
He noticed his watch still hanging on the wall, and the lab coat whichcovered his leather pencil case. He started to take them, then slowlydropped his hand and touched the intercom.
"Get me Dr. Karl Haslam."
"You're keeping the Leader waiting," said Magnun, but David paid noattention.
"Dr. Haslam? Dr. Wong speaking. I may be a little late getting up to seethose precipitates of yours. But you keep them simmering, just in case.It's very probable that the antibody curve will rise.... Yes, I'll letyou know if I can."
Magnun followed him to the office, then strolled away for a chat withWatchguard Jones.
David put his things on his desk and made his preparations inbusinesslike fashion while Marley and Lanza glanced curiously around theoffice. He watched apprehensively as Marley inspected the bookcase, thenturned away.
"I never could understand why Research needs so many books," heremarked.
"Please roll up your sleeve, Leader Marley. I'm ready for you now."
Deftly he assembled the syringe, filled it to the two centimeter mark,and scrubbed the arm presented to him.
"Ready?" He inserted the needle and slowly expelled the fluid. Then,taking a fresh syringe, he repeated the operation, filling from thesecond vial.
"Why do those bottles have different numbers?" asked Marley. "Aren't wegetting the same thing?"
"Certainly. Just lab routine, so we can keep track of how many unitshave been used from our stock. There, that does it, Lanza. Both of youwill be perfectly safe for a good many years to come."
He was washing his hands at the sink when he heard a struggle at thedoor. Turning, he saw Leah, thin, gaunt and terrified, held fast in thegrip of Officer Magnun, who forced her inside and slammed the doorbehind them.
"What's the meaning of this intrusion?" demanded Marley.
"There's some funny business going on, Leader," said Magnun. "I caughtthis woman trying to sneak in here. She says she's Miss Hachovnik andshe works here. Only she ain't. I arrested Miss Hachovnik myself, and Iremember well enough what she looked like. She was a cute chick, not abit like this dame."
Marley was staring at the sobbing girl, eyes blinking as he thought,looked back, remembered. Slowly his eyes shifted to David, and Davidfelt like a man impaled.
"You may leave, Magnun," said the Leader.
"You don't want me to arrest this woman?"
"Let go of her! I said you may leave!"
"As you say, Leader."
When the door closed, the room throbbed to Leah's sobs.
"I couldn't help it, Dr. Wong," she cried. "I got so bored, sitting andlooking at those books, day after day, with nothing to do! I thought I'djust slip down here for an hour and say hello to people, and--"
"Quiet, Hachovnik!" roared Marley. He quieted his voice. "I understandnow, Wong. I rememb
er. There were two girls. Twins. The one inPsycho-detention, according to Officer Magnun, is still beautiful andyoung. It's no use, Wong. You do know the secret of immortality. And youtold me the Phoenix was only a fairy tale!"
* * * * *
David felt entirely calm. Whatever might happen now, at least thesuspense was over. He had done all he could, and it was a relief to havethings in the open. He thought fleetingly of his colleagues, alerted byhis message, frantically putting their plans into operation, but heleaned back against the sink with every appearance of ease.
"You're not quite right, Leader Marley. I cannot confer immortality. AllI am able to do is stave off the aging