had made more impressionable men fall at his feet in adoration.

"You were right, doctor. The man was, if not an actual traitor, at least a potential one; he was slyly subverting the loyalty of his immediate subordinates, with the idea of making himself paramount in the government. His death becomes a striking demonstration of your virus's value." A new shadow passed over the Dictator's face as he recalled how he had trusted Chaber. "I think," he mused aloud, "we will prepare RM4 injections for all the more strategically placed personnel of the Political Police and—yes, the Guards too. Eventually, it would be a good idea to blanket the whole country with the virus." The Dictator brightened again. "For the rest, the results of the large-scale test were highly gratifying."

"Indeed," said Euge without surprise.

"You can study the figures if you like. Comparison of the death-list with police files shows that the vast majority of the affected were people with criminal records or known deviationist tendencies. A city rid of human vermin at one stroke! Now nothing can stop us."

"No," said Euge.

The Diktatura worked fast. The new mass-production forced-culture techniques obviated the difficulties of producing great quantities of the new virus within a short period, and when the armed forces received the order for the minor operation of occupying two small, ideologically hostile countries on the border, there was already enough RM4 on hand for a major war.

In that lightning trial campaign, the new weapon was still used sparingly and with caution. In combination with more conventional offensive measures, it proved itself nobly. The Diktatura's shock troops rolled into cities of the dead, saw whole countrysides unpeopled almost overnight by the mutant plague. Few of the invaders, picked, loyal men that they were, succumbed; but even after the guns had fallen silent, the pestilence continued to stalk unchecked and uncheckable among the subjected peoples.

The Dictator weighed the reports that piled up on his desk. The plague's existence and origin were no longer secrets to anyone whose knowledge or lack of it mattered. The Diktatura's most potent rival had already closed its borders and begun a formidable mobilization. The time for a public announcement had arrived; the enemy would fear to believe it, but the revelation of the invincible weapon would do wonders for home morale.

Novik 

 Prev. P 12/19 next