to get things done; wise men wait
too long for the right time. How's the bug hunt?"

Doc grunted in disgust and swung back to the microscope. Then he gave up
as his tired eyes refused to focus. "Why don't you people revolt?"

"They tried it twice. But they were just a bunch of pariahs shipped here
to live in peonage. They couldn't do much. The first time Earth cut off
shipments and starved them. Next time the villages had the answer to
that but the cities had to fight for Earth or starve, so they whipped
us. And there's always the threat that Earth could send over unmanned
war rockets loaded with fissionables."

"So it's hopeless?"

"So nothing! The Lobbies are poisoning themselves, like cutting off
Medical service until they cut themselves out of a job. It's just a
matter of time. Go back to the bugs, Doc."

Doc sighed and reached for his notes. "I wish I knew more Martian
history. I've been wondering whether this bug may not have been what
killed off the old Martians. Something had to do it, the way they
disappeared. I wish I knew enough to make an investigation of those
ruins out there."

"Durwood!" Jake had propped himself on an elbow, staring at Doc in
surprise.

Doc scowled. "Clive Durwood, you mean? The archeologist who dug up what
little we know about the ruins?"

"Yeah, before he went back to Earth and started living off his lectures.
He came here again three years ago and dropped dead in Edison on the way
to some other ruins. Heart failure, they called it, though it was more
like the two old farmers who ran themselves to death last month. I saw
him when they buried him. His face looked funny, and I think he had
those little specks, though I may remember wrong." He grimaced. "Mars is
tough, Doc; it has to be. Some of the plant seeds Durwood found in the
ruins grew! Maybe your bugs waited a million years till we came along."

"What about the farmers? Did they meet Durwood?"

Jake nodded. "Must have. He lived in their village most of the time."

Doc went through his notes. He'd asked for reports on all deaths, and he
finally found the account. The two old men had been nervous and fidgety
for weeks. They were twins, living by themselves, and nobody paid much
attention. Then one morning both were seen running wildly in circles.
The village managed to tie them up, but they died of exhaustion shortly
after.

It wasn't a pretty picture. The disease might have an incubation period
of nearly fifteen years