y that entire section of
Mars known as the villages. Therefore the entire section shall be banned
and forbidden any and all services of the Medical Lobby for a period of
one year."

"Sir Magistrate!" One of the members of Southport Hospital staff was on
his feet. "Sir Magistrate, we can't cut them off completely."

"We must, Dr. Harkness. I appreciate the fine humanitarian tradition of
our Lobby which lies behind your protest, but at such a time as this the
good of the body politic requires drastic measures. Why not see me after
court, and we can discuss it then?"

He turned back to Feldman, and his face was severe.

"The same education which has produced such fine young men as Dr.
Harkness was wasted on you and perverted to endanger the whole race. No
punishment can equal your crimes, but there is one previously invoked
for a particularly horrible case, and it seems fitting that you should
be the fourth so sentenced.

"Daniel Feldman, you are sentenced to be taken in to space beyond
planetary limits, together with all material used by you in the
furtherance of your criminal acts. There you shall be placed into a
spacesuit containing sufficient oxygen for one hour of life, and no
more. You and your contaminated possessions shall then be released into
space, to drift there through all eternity as a warning to other men.

"This sentence shall be executed at the earliest possible moment, and
Dr. Christina Ryan is hereby commissioned to observe such execution. And
may God have mercy on your soul!"

X

Execution

The hours of waiting were blurred for Doc. There were periods when fear
clogged his throat and left him gasping with the need to scream and beat
his cell walls. There were also times when it didn't seem to matter, and
when his only thoughts were for the villages and the plague.

They brought him the papers, where he was painted as a monster beside
whom Jack the Ripper and Albrecht Delier were gentle amateurs. They were
trying to focus all fear and resentment on him. Maybe it was working.
There were screaming crowds outside the jail, and the noise of their
hatred was strong enough to carry through even the atmosphere of Mars.
But there were also signs that the Lobby was worried, as if afraid that
some attempt might still be made to rescue him.

He'd looked forward to the trip to the airport as a way of judging
public reaction. But apparently the Lobby had no desire to test that.
The guards led h