Secretary General: Don't take it that way, Doctor. I'm not questioning your treatment. But you wouldn't try to keep a mother from seeing her son alone, now would you? Are you afraid I might hurt him?
Nelson: No, but —
Secretary General: Then what is your objection? Come now, introduce us and let's get on with it. This fussing may be upsetting your patient.
Nelson: Your Excellency, I will introduce you. Then you must select another doctor for your … ward.
Secretary General: I'm sorry, Doctor, I really am. I can't take that as final — we'll discuss it later. Now, if you please?
Nelson: Step over here, sir. Son, this is the man who wants to see you. Our great Old One.
Smith: (untranscribable)
Secretary General: What did he say?
Nelson: A respectful greeting. Mahmoud says it translates:
«I am only an egg.» More or less that, anyway. It's friendly. Son, talk man-talk.
Smith: Yes.
Nelson: And you had better use simple words, if I may offer a last advice.
Secretary General: Oh, I will.
Nelson: Good-by, Your Excellency. Good-by, son.
Secretary General: Thanks, Doctor. See you later.
Secretary General: (continued) How do you feel?
Smith: Feel fine.
Secretary General: Good. Anything you want, just ask for it. We want you to be happy. Now I have something I want you to do for me. Can you write?
Smith: «Write»? What is «write»?
Secretary General: Well, your thumb print will do. I want to read a paper to you. This paper has a lot of lawyer talk, but stated simply it says that you agree that in leaving Mars you have abandoned — I mean, given up — any claims that you may have there. Understand me? You assign them in trust to the government.
Smith: (no answer)
Secretary General: Well, let's put it this way. You don't own Mars, do you?
Smith: (longish pause) I do not understand.
Secretary General: Mmm…let's try again. You want to stay here, don't you?
Smith: I do not know. I was sent by the Old Ones. (Long untranscribable speech, sounds like a bullfrog fighting a cat.)
Secretary General: Damn it, they should have taught him more English by now. See here, son, you don't have to worry. Just let me have your thumb print at the bottom of this page. Let me have your right hand. No, don't twist around that way. Hold still! I'm not going to hurt you …
Second Doctor: Yes, sir?
Secretary General: Get Doctor Nelson?
Second Doctor: Doctor Nelson? But he left, sir. He said you took him off the case.
Secretary General: Nelson said that?
Second Doctor: I don't believe there is anything to be done, sir. Just let him alone until he comes out of it. That's what Doctor Nelson always did.
Secretary General: Blast Doctor Nelson!
The Secretary General's voice did not appear again, nor that of Doctor Nelson. Jill could guess, from gossip she had picked up, that Smith had gone into one of his cataleptiform withdrawals. There were two more entries. One read: No need to whisper. He can't hear you. The other read: Take that tray away. We'll feed him when he comes out of it.
Jill was rereading it when Ben reappeared. He had more onionskin sheets but he did not offer them; instead he said, «Hungry?»
«Starved.»
«Let's go shoot a cow.»
He said nothing while they went to the roof and took a taxi, still kept quiet during a flight to Alexandria platform, where they switched cabs. Ben picked one with a Baltimore number. Once in the air he set it for Hagerstown, Maryland, then relaxed. «Now we can talk.»
«Ben, why the mystery?»
«Sorry, pretty foots. I don't
Jill shivered. «Ben, you don't think they would …» She let it trail off.
«Don't I, now! You saw my column. I filed that copy nine hours ago. You think the administration will let me kick it in the stomach without kicking back?»
«But you have always opposed this administration.»
«That's okay. This is different; I have accused them of holding a political prisoner. Jill, a government is a living organism. Like every living thing its prime characteristic is the instinct to survive. You hit it, it fights back. This time I've
«I'm not afraid. Not since I turned that gadget back to you.»
«You're associated with me. If things get rough, that could be enough.»
Jill shut up. The notion that she, who had never experienced worse than a spanking as a child and an occasional harsh word as an adult, could be in danger was hard to believe. As a nurse, she had seen the consequences of ruthlessness — but it could not happen to
Their cab was circling for a landing before she broke the moody silence. «Ben? Suppose this patient dies. What happens?»
«Huh?» He frowned. «That's a good question. If there are no other questions, the class is dismissed.»
«Don't be funny.»
«Hmm … Jill, I've been awake nights trying to answer that. Here are the best answers I have: If Smith dies, his claim to Mars vanishes. Probably the group the
«Huh? Why?»
«The Larkin Decision might not apply. Luna was uninhabited, but Mars
«But, Ben, that would be the case anyhow. This notion of a single man
«Don't use that word to a lawyer; straining at gnats and swallowing camels is a required course in law schools. Besides, there is precedent. In the fifteenth century the Pope deeded the western hemisphere to Spain and Portugal and nobody cared that the real estate was occupied by Indians with their own laws, customs, and property rights. His grant was effective, too. Look at a map and notice where Spanish is spoken and where Portuguese is spoken.»
«Yes, but — Ben, this isn't the fifteenth century.»
«It is to a lawyer. Jill, if the High Court rules that the Larkin Decision applies, Smith is in a position to grant concessions which may be worth millions, more likely billions. If he assigns his claim to the administration, then Secretary Douglas controls the plums.»
