Category Phoenix

by Boyd Ellanby

process."

  "That will do me nicely. And it's connected somehow with the BlueMartian virus?"

  "Yes. The disease serves as the vehicle."

  With a brisk motion, Marley drew his needler from his breast pocket andaimed it steadily at David. "_Give it to me!_"

  "You're rather ambiguous," said David. How were his friends gettingalong? Were they ready yet? Had Karl visited the basement lab? "Do youmean you want me to give you the injection to prolong your life, or thesecret of how to do it, or what?"

  "Don't quibble! First you'll give me the injection to make me immortal.Then you'll turn over to me all your notes on procedure. Then my friendhere will needle you with a shaft of electrons and end your interest inthe problem."

  "Surely you won't keep such a good thing all for yourself," said David."What about Dr. Lanza? He's your right-hand man. Don't you want him tolive forever, too? What about Officer Magnun? He's a faithful servant."

  "You're stalling, Wong. Do you want me to kill you now?"

  "It won't be wise to needle me yet, Leader Marley. The secret would belost forever."

  "I'll have your notes!"

  "Yes? Try to read them. They're written in Coptic, a dead language thatyou consider it a waste of time to learn, because such knowledge isimpractical. There aren't half a dozen men on Earth who could make heador tail of my notebook."

  "Then I'll find that half-dozen! I want the injection." He gestured withthe gleaming weapon.

  "This is once when I have no Free Choice," said David. "Very well." Hestarted toward the door, but halted at the roar of command.

  "Stop! Do you think I'm fool enough to let you out of my sight?"

  "But I have to get the inoculant."

  "Use the intercom. Send for it."

  David slumped into the chair and opened the intercom. He could almostfeel the electronic shaft of the needler ripping into his body. Hisheart beat wildly, and the tension of adrenalin ran through his body.His lips felt cold, but he held them steady as he spoke into the dial.

  "Get me Dr. Haslam.... Karl? David Wong speaking. Will you send someoneup with a vial of phoenix special? The precipitates? I should say theantibody titer has reached the danger point. Don't delay treatment anylonger."

  Silently they waited. Marley's grim face did not relax; his eyes werealight. Leah lay back in her chair with closed eyes, and Lanza staredintently at the floor.

  A soft knock came at the door, and a female technician hurried in,carrying a tray.

  "I'm sorry to be so slow, Dr. Wong. Dr. Haslam had a little troublelocating the right vial. Oh, and he said to tell you not to worry aboutthose precipitates. They're taken care of."

  "Just a minute," said David. "Leader Marley, Miss Hachovnik here is veryill. Won't you let this girl help her to the rest room? She'll be safethere until you're ready for her."

  Marley looked at the half-fainting woman. "All right. You take herthere, Lanza, and this girl too. Lock them in. And she's not to talk. Doyou understand? She's not to talk!"

  "As you say, Leader Marley," the technician whispered. She helped Leahto her feet, and Lanza followed them from the room.

  Marley closed the door and locked it. "Now, then, Wong, give me thatshot, and heaven help you if you try any tricks!"

  "Will you bare your arm while I prepare the syringe?"

  Awkwardly hanging onto the needler, Marley tugged at his sleeve whileDavid calmly picked up a bottle of colorless liquid and filled hissyringe. He turned to the Leader, swabbed his arm, then picked up thesyringe.

  "There you are," said David.

  Jerking the syringe upward, he forced a thin jet of pure alcohol intothe man's eyes. Marley screamed. Agonizing pain blinded him, and as heclutched at his eyes, David snatched the needler from the writhingfingers, and flashed the electronic dagger straight to the heart.

  He stared at the twitching body for only an instant. People werepounding on the door, shouting. He tugged at the desk drawer to get hisnotebook, then remembered sickly that he had left his keys in the lab.He would have to leave his notes.

  The shouts were growing louder, people were battering the door. Swiftlyhe moved to the bookcase, swung it away from the wall, and dropped intodarkness.

  He brought the bookcase back, then turned and ran along the blackpassageway.

  * * * * *

  Leader Lanza sat in his suite at State House, conferring with hissubordinates.

  "It hardly seems possible, Magnun, that so many people could haveslipped through your fingers without help from the Military. You sayboth the Hachovnik twins have disappeared?"

  "Yes, Leader."

  "And how many people from the Institute?"

  "Six, Leader. But it didn't do them any good. We got them, all right."

  "But you found no bodies!"

  "They wouldn't _have_ bodies after we got through with them, Leader."

  "You're quite certain, Officer Magnun, that all the fugitives weredestroyed?"

  Lanza looked tired, and his officers noticed in him a lack of firmness,an indecision, to which they were not accustomed in a Leader.

  "Say, those babies never had a chance, Leader. We picked up theirroboplanes somewhere over Kansas, and we shot them out of the air likeducks. They didn't even fire back. They just crashed, burned,disintegrated. They won't give you any more trouble. Why, we even pickedup the remains of Doc Wong's wristwatch and that old beat-up pencil caseof his." He flung them on the desk.

  Lanza fingered the charred and molten relics.

  "That will do, Magnun. I'll call you when I need you."

  "Say, ain't you feeling well, Leader? You look kind of green."

  "That will be all, Magnun!"

  "As you say, Leader."

  Lanza shoved aside the charred remnants and spread out the paperswaiting for him, the unimportant, miscellaneous notes accumulated overthe years by Hudson, Faure, and Haslam. And the unreadable notebook ofDavid Wong. He sighed and looked up as his secretary entered.

  "I'm sorry to disturb you, Leader. You look tired."

  "The funeral this morning was quite an ordeal, and so much has happenedthe last three days!"

  "Well, I thought you ought to know that strange reports are coming in.Some of our most prominent citizens have disappeared. We're trying totrace them, of course, but--"

  "Anything more?"

  "Those rumors about Blue Martian are cropping up again."

  "Yes? And--?"

  "That old man you asked me to bring from the Vermont quarries, the onewho was detained for illegal study of the Coptic language? Well, I guessthe excitement of his release was too much for him. He died of a heartattack when he was being taken to the plane."

  Lanza sighed. "Very well, that will be all."

  Alone at last, he looked sadly through the pages of David's notebook, atthe tantalizing curls and angles of the Coptic letters, cryptic symbolsof a discovery which prevented a man from growing old. Well, no onecould read them now. That secret was dead, along with its discoverer,because, in this world, no study was permitted without a practical endin view. And perhaps it was just as well. Could any man be trusted, hewondered, to deal wisely with a power so great?

  After closing the notebook, he dropped his head into his hands.

  How his head ached! He felt cold, suddenly, and his whole body began toshake with a hard chill. He lifted his head, his vision blurred, andsuddenly he knew.

  He had Blue Martian fever!

  Teeth chattering, he paced wildly about the room, puzzling things out,trying to remember. That booster shot! And then he realized the amazingtruth: David Wong had given him a chance! He had inoculated him with theseeds of immortality, giving him a chance to help right the wrongs ofthis Categorized world. And now he was left alone in a world of mortals.David and the others had been annihilated, and he was left to live onand on, alone.

  He staggered toward his private apartments, then sank into his chair ashis secretary once again ran into the room. With a supreme effort h
econtrolled his trembling.

  "Yes?"

  "Leader Lanza. Another report."

  "Just a minute," said Lanza, trying to bring his eyes into focus on theexcited girl. "I am in need of a rest. As soon as you have gone, I shallretire into seclusion for a few days. There are to be no interruptions.Is that clear? Now, proceed."

  "There's a new epidemic of Martian Fever reported where one never wasbefore."

  He stirred tiredly. "Where now?"

  "South America. Somewhere in the Andes."

  "I think we'll have just one Category after this," said