was sick."

I licked my lips. "I didn't mean that," I said. "Besides, they could
always tell if you did anything like that."

"How?" asked Spender.

Harding was listening intently, watching both of us, but he didn't say
anything.

"They can identify the organisms," I pointed out.

"Sure. Easy. But how do they know where he picked them up? They're
laying all around outside the domes here on Mars ever since the first
assault by the aliens twelve years ago. Nobody's had time to
decontaminate this whole planet like they did Earth. Easiest thing in
the world for a new officer on Mars to take a little sight-seeing
excursion outside the domes and to be a little careless."

"There would be an epidemic if he brought back a lot of spores," I
suggested. "Besides, it's out of bounds to leave the dome."

Spender shook his head. "You can get around that out-of-bounds business
without any trouble," he said. "And there are decontamination chambers
in the air locks, which would clean up anything he brought in; so there
would be no epidemic. The exposure would take place outside of the
domes--say if he opened his helmet to smell the perfume of the famous
hypnotic marspoppy, or something like that. Then he would be infected,
and after that it's non-contagious. All we need is somebody to buddy up
to him, and take him out there. Nature and the poppy will do the rest."

"Look," I said angrily, "cut that stuff out, Spender. If you're looking
to me to disable the guy, forget about it. I won't. And I'm telling you
right now that if I find anybody else does, I'll report it."

* * * * *

For once Spender laughed. He turned to face me, and his blue eyes were
dancing in his scarred, old face. He was laughing at me and my
belligerent righteousness, but the real joke, of course, was that unless
somebody actually caught him talking Frendon into going out there, there
wouldn't be the slightest chance of proving he had done it. It was the
simplest thing in the world to sneak out and back without being
observed, and we both knew it.

"All right," I said then. "Have your laugh, Spender. And you, too,
Harding. I don't like the nut we've got any more than you do, but what
you're talking about is mutiny and murder--"

"Oh, he wouldn't necessarily die," Harding commented thoughtfully. "If
he gets the serum within a few hours of the first symptoms, he probably
would be just a very sick man for about a month. Too lon