One woman suddenly went into even more violent action. She leaped into the air and then took off at a rapid trot1, then a run. Her hands were tearing at her clothes and her mouth seemed to be working violently. She was halfway2 to the top of the nearest dune3 before a rifle cracked. She dropped, to twitch4 once and lie still.
Almost with her death, another figure leaped from one of the houses, his face bare of the necessary aspirator. He took off at a violent run, but he was falling from lack of air before the bullet ended his struggles.
The people suddenly began to move apart, as if trying to get away from each other. For weeks they had faced the horror with courage; now it was finally too much for them.
Tension mounted as no news came from the cities. Doc noticed that it seemed to aggravate5 or speed up the disease. He saw three men shot in the next half-hour.[Pg 99]
He was trying to calm them with word of a possible cure for the plague, but their reactions were as curiously6 dull as those of Jake had been. As he spoke7, they faced him with set expressions. At his mention of the need for the blood of young children, they turned from him, sullenly8 silent.
Jake came over, nodding unhappily. "It's what I was afraid might happen, Doc. George Lynn! Tell Doc what's wrong."
Lynn was reluctant, but he finally stumbled out his explanation. "It ain't like you, Doc. Comes from that Lobby woman you got. It's her dirty idea. We've seen the Lobby doctors cutting open our kids, poisoning their blood, and bleeding them dry. That ain't gonna happen again, Doc. You tell her it ain't!"
Doc swore as he realized their ignorance. An unexplained vaccination9 looked like poisoning of the blood. But he couldn't understand the bleeding part until Jake filled him in.
"Northport infant's wing. Each department has its own blood bank and donation is compulsory10. Southport started it a couple months ago, too."
The long arm of the Lobby had reached out again. Now if he ever got them to try the treatment, it would be only after long sessions of preparing them with the facts, and there was hardly enough time for the crucial work!
By afternoon, Judge Ben Wilson reached them. His voice shook with fatigue11 as he climbed up to address the crowd through a power megaphone. "Southport's going crazy." He had to pause for breath between each sentence. "Earth's pulling back all the important people. They're packing them into the ships. They're leaving only colonials with no Earth rights. Those ships left[Pg 100] when they decided12 the plague was coming from here. They won't let anybody back until the plague is licked. There won't be an Earth technician on Mars tomorrow."
"No bombs?" someone called.
"No bombs. The ships must have started before you rebelled, maybe meant honestly to save their own kind. But now it's a military action, and don't think it won't mean trouble. The poor devils in the city bet on the wrong horse. Now they can't run their food factories or anything else for long. Not without technicians. They've got to whip you now. Up to this time, they've been fighting for the Lobbies. Now they'll fight you for their own bellies13 to get your supplies. And they've still got shuttle rockets and fuel for them. Now beat it. I gotta confer with Jake."
Doc started after the judge, but Dr. Harkness caught his arm and drew him aside. Chris followed.
"I've found another epidemic," Harkness told them. "Over at Marconi. It's kept me on the run all night, and now half the village is down with it. Starts like a common cold, runs a fair fever, and the skin breaks out all over with bright red dots...."
He went on describing it. Chris began asking him about what medical supplies he had brought with him, pilfered14 from Northport hospital. She seemed to know what it was, but refused to say until she saw the cases. Doc also preferred to wait. Sometimes things weren't as bad as they seemed, though usually they were worse.
Marconi was dead to all outward appearances, with nobody on the streets. It had been a village of great hopes a week before, since this was where they had decided to experiment with switching the people back to Earth-normal. They'd had the best chance of sur[Pg 101]vival of anyone on Mars until this came up.
Three people lay on the beds in the first house Harkness led them to. The room was darkened, and a man was stumbling around, trying to tend the others, though the little spots showed on his skin. He grinned weakly. "Hi, Doc. I guess we're making a lot of trouble, ain't we?"
"Figured so," the sick man said. "Like my brother back on Earth."
The others looked doubtful, but Doc reassured16 them. Chris should know; she'd worked in a swanky hospital where the patients were mostly Earth-normal. Measles was one of the diseases which was foiled by the metabolism17 switch. Well, at least they wouldn't have to be quarantined here.
Chris finished treating the family with impersonal18 efficiency, discussing the symptoms loudly with Harkness. "It's a good thing it isn't serious!"
"No," Harkness answered bitterly. "Not serious. It's only killed five children and three adults so far!"
"It would, here," Doc agreed unhappily. He led Chris out of the room on the pretext19 of washing his hands. "It's serious enough to force us to abandon the whole idea of going back to Earth-normal. Measles today, smallpox20, tuberculosis21, scarlet22 fever and everything else tomorrow. These people have lived Mars-normal so long their natural immunity23 has been destroyed. On Earth where the disease was everywhere, kids used to pick up some immunity with constant exposure, even without what might be called a case of the disease. Here, the blood has no reason to build antibodies. They can be killed by things people used to laugh at. How the[Pg 102] disease got here, I don't know. But it's here. So we'll have to give up the idea of switching back to Earth-normal."
He gathered up one of the kits25 and started toward the other houses. "And Lord knows how long it will take to get the blood for the other treatment, even if it works."
They worked as a team for a while, with Harkness frowning as he watched Chris. Finally the young doctor stopped Chris outside the fifth house. "These are my patients, Dr. Ryan. I left the Lobby because I didn't believe colonials were mere26 livestock27. I still feel the same. I appreciate your help in diagnosis28 and methods of treatment. But I can't let you handle my patients this way."
"I think you'd better wait in the tractor, Chris."
He was lucky enough to catch the kit24 she threw at him before its precious contents spilled. But it wasn't luck that guided his hand to the back of her skirt hard enough to leave it stinging.
Her face froze and she stormed out. A moment later they heard the tractor start off.
But Doc had no time to think of her. He and Harkness split up and began covering the streets, house by house, while he passed on the word to abandon the metabolism switch and go back to Mars-normal.
Jake sent two other doctors to relieve them late in the evening. Things were somewhat quieter at GHQ as Doc reported the events at Marconi.
"Where's Dr. Ryan?" Jake asked at last.
Doc exchanged glances with Harkness. "She isn't in the lab?"[Pg 103]
"Wasn't there an hour ago."
Doc cursed himself for letting her go. With the knowledge that the radio in the mike was disabled, she'd obviously grabbed the first chance to report back. And with her had gone news of the only cure they had found.
Jake took it as philosophically30 as he could, though it was a heavy blow to his hopes. They spent half the night looking for her tractor, on the chance that she might have gotten lost or broken down, but there was no sign of it.
She was waiting in the laboratory when he returned at dawn. Her face was dirty and her uniform was a mess. But she was smiling. She got up to greet him, holding out two large bottles.
"Infant plasma31—straight from Southport. And if you think I had it easy lying my way in and out of the hospital, you're a fool, Dan Feldman. If the man who took my place there hadn't been a native idiot, I never would have gotten away with it."
The things he had suspected could still be right, he realized. She could have reported everything to the Lobby. It was a better explanation than her vague account of bullying32 her way in and out. But she'd had a rough drive, and he wanted the plasma. Curiously, he was glad to have her back with him. He reached out a hand for the bottles.
She put the bottle on the table and grabbed up a short-bladed knife. "Not so fast," she cried. Her eyes were blazing now. "Dan Feldman, if you touch those bottles until you've crawled across the floor on your face and apologized for the way you treated me the last few days, I'll cut your damned heart out."
He shook his head, chuckling33 at the picture she[Pg 104] made. There were times when he could almost see why he'd married her.
"All right, Chris," he gave in. "I'll be darned if I'll crawl, but you've earned an apology. Okay?"
She sighed uncertainly. Then she nodded and began changing for work.
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1
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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dune
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| n.(由风吹积而成的)沙丘 | |
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twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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5
aggravate
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| vt.加重(剧)，使恶化；激怒，使恼火 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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7
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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8
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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9
vaccination
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| n.接种疫苗，种痘 | |
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10
compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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12
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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13
bellies
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| n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的 | |
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14
pilfered
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| v.偷窃（小东西），小偷( pilfer的过去式和过去分词 )；偷窃（一般指小偷小摸） | |
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15
measles
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| n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子 | |
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16
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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17
metabolism
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| n.新陈代谢 | |
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impersonal
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| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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smallpox
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| n.天花 | |
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tuberculosis
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| n.结核病，肺结核 | |
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22
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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23
immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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24
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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kits
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| 衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件 | |
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26
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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27
livestock
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| n.家畜，牲畜 | |
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28
diagnosis
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| n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断 | |
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29
glazing
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| n.玻璃装配业；玻璃窗；上釉；上光v.装玻璃( glaze的现在分词 )；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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30
philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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31
plasma
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| n.血浆，细胞质，乳清 | |
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32
bullying
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| v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈 | |
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33
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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