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And passed!

Light- Blurring light andinto focus

A face-Eyes upon his- "Pola!" Things were sharp and clear to Arvardan in a single, leaping bound "What tiers were hard upon her wrist, so that she winced involuntarily

"It&039;s past seven," she whispered "Past the deadline"

He looked about wildly, starting fro in his joints Shekt, his lean figure huddled in a chair, raised his head to nod in brief mournfulness

"It&039;s all over, Arvardan"

"Then Ennius-"

"Ennius," said Shekt, "would not take the chance Isn&039;t that strange?" He laughed a queer, cracked, rasping laugh "The three of us singlehandedly discover a vast plot against hu him to justice It&039;s like a visicast, isn&039;t it, with the great all-conquering heroes zoo to victory in the nick of time? That&039;s where they usually end it Only in our case the visicast went on and we found that nobody believed us That doesn&039;t happen in visicasts, does it? Things end happily there, don&039;t they? It&039;s funny-" The words turned into rough, dry sobs

Arvardan looked away, sick Pola&039;s eyes were dark universes, moist and tear-filled Somehow, for an instant, he was lost in them-they were universes, star-filled And toward those stars little gleaht-years as they penetrated hyperspace in calculated, deadly paths Soon-perhaps already-they would approach, pierce atmospheres, fall apart into unseen deadly rains of virus- Well, it was over It could no longer be stopped "Where is Schwartz?" he asked weakly But Pola only shook her head "They never brought him back"

The door opened, and Arvardan was not so far gone in the acceptance of death as to fail to look up with a momentary wash of hope upon his face

But it was Ennius, and Arvardan&039;s face hardened and turned away

Ennius approached and looked hter But even now Shekt and Pola were pri to the Procurator, even though they knew that short and violent as their future lives were to be, that of the Procurator would be even shorter and more violent

Ennius tapped Arvardan on the shoulder "Dr Arvardan?"

"Your Excellency?" said Arvardan in a raw and bitter imitation of the other&039;s intonation

"It is after six o&039;clock" Ennius had not slept that night With his official absolution of Balkis had come no absolute assurance that the accusers were completely mad-or under mental control He had watched the soulless chronometer tick away the life of the Galaxy

"Yes," said Arvardan "It is after six and the stars still shine"

"But you still think you were right?"

"Your Excellency," said Arvardan, "in a matter of hours the first victis die every day In a week hundreds of thousands will have died The percentage of recovery will be close to zero No known reency calls for epidemic relief In teeks scores of planets will have joined the call and States of Eency will be declared in the nearer sectors In amass of disease In two months not twenty planets will remain untouched In six months the Galaxy will be deadAnd ill you do when those first reports come in?

"Let me predict that as well You will send out reports that the epidemics may have started on Earth This will save no lives You will declare war on the Ancients of Earth This will save no lives You ipe the Earthman from the face of his planet This will save no livesOr else you will act as go-between for your friend Balkis and the Galactic Council, or the survivors thereof Youthe wretched remnants of the crumbs of the Empire to Balkis in return for antitoxin, which mayor may not reach sufficient worlds in sufficient quantities in sufficient ti"

Ennius smiled without conviction "Don&039;t you think you&039;re being ridiculously overdramatic?"

"Oh yes I&039;m a dead man and you&039;re a corpse But let&039;s be devilishly cool and Imperial about it, don&039;t y&039;know?"

"If you resent the use of the neuronic whip-"

"Not at all," ironically "I&039;m used to it I hardly feel it any ically as I can This has been a nasty mess It would be difficult to report sensibly, yet as difficult to suppress without reason Now the other accusers involved are Earthht Suppose you sign a statement to the effect that the accusation was made at a time when you were not in your-Well, we&039;ll think of so in the notion of mental control"

"That would be si goes"

"Will you be reasonable? Now look, I tell you that you have been ta tensely "You&039;re a irl?"

"What?"

"Don&039;t shout I say-in your norone native? Could you have considered that sort of thing?" He nodded his head just perceptibly in the direction of Pola

For an instant Arvardan stared at him in surprise Then, quickly, his hand shot out and seized the highest Imperial authority on Earth by the throat Ennius&039;s hands wrenched wildly and futilely at the other&039;s grip

Arvardan said, "That sort of thing, eh? Do you mean Miss Shekt? If you do, I want to hear the proper respect, eh? Ah, go away You&039;re dead anyway"

Ennius said gaspingly, "Dr Arvardan, you will consider yourself under ar-"

The door opened again, and the colonel was upon them

"Your Excellency, the Earth rabble has returned"

"What? Hasn&039;t this Balkis spoken to his officials? He was going to arrange for a week&039;s stay"

"He has spoken and he&039;s still here But so is the mob We are ready to fire upon them, and it is my advice as military coestions, Your Excellency?"