"Say, what's going on here, doctor? I got a load back there in the copter . . ." He ceased speaking and looked at Sato curiously.
Sato realized belatedly that he was still holding the mutilated doll in his left hand. He placed it down on a nearby cot. "You left last night for Ranaku?"
"Yes, sure. That's the routine," said the pilot
"And there was no sign of anything unusual then?"
"No..."
"I'll take the other wards. You make a search of the living quarters," Sato ordered, moving towards the door, although he already had a feeling that the exercise was a pointless one. "I'll meet you back here in ten minutes."
In the other buildings the same enigma was repeated. There was no sign of disorder, everything appeared to be absolutely normal—save that there were no patients, or staff. Sato returned to the main building to find the copter pilot sitting on the steps of the verandah.
"Nothing, doctor, not a single human being in the whole place." The man shivered, as he looked up at Sato. "My girl, Asura, I went to her room, and there was nothing. For God's sake, what happened here?"
Sato could offer no explanation, even to himself. The entire situation was quite beyond reason. There was no obvious reason for the evacuation of the hospital; if what had happened had indeed been an evacuation. In any case, where could the people have gone? Into the forest? Or up into the mountains? Moving, as they must, on foot, because the copter, their only transport, was not available. But even if the people of the staff had done such a thing—what of the fifty helpless patients, none of whom, as far as he knew, were capable of purposeful movement on their own account? The whole thing was inconceivable—and yet it had happened. Suddenly, the monstrous children had apparently been spirited away, as if they had never existed— and with them, thirty adult human beings, twenty of whom had been trained medical staff who could ill be spared. Unless...
Sato was conscious of a dreadful, cold rage growing in his mind. To President Kido, with his ambitions for the future of the planet, the mutated children had been a burden and a possible source of embarrassment. Kido had hinted more than once that he considered the policy of preservation a wasteful and dangerous one. What more likely than that, under fear of what the scrutiny of Magnus and the Explorations Division staff might reveal, Kido had steeled himself to take the ruthless, inhuman step of removing the monstrous children to some place where they would be exterminated en masse? It was an operation well within the capabilities of the forces directly under the command of the president, and it was almost surely in time with his ruthless determination to maintain himself in power.
Under such circumstances, it was possible that Yamaguchi and his staff were unharmed, that Kido was merely intending to keep them out of sight in some safe place until the independence investigation was over. But the children—that monstrous but sacred trust...
"Take me back to Ranaku—at once!" Sato said to the copter pilot
Tom Bruce stood on a balcony of the presidential palace holding a lukewarm glass of
sake
in his right hand and thinking longingly of what he would give for the taste of bourbon on the rocks. The humming chatter of the thronging crowds in the palace gardens below wafted up to him, making him thankful that he had at least managed to escape with the VIP attendees of the reception to the comparative quiet of the president's lounge.
"Ah, there you are, commander. Everything all right?"
Bruce turned, to find himself looking into the sallow moon-face of President Kido. "Very comfortable, thank you, Mr. President," he said, an automatic smile creasing his craggy features.
"Good! Good!" beamed the president "I must tell you that your speeches so far have made a profound impression on our people. It is seldom that a man of action like yourself combines such powers of oratory with his other talents."
"You are too kind, Mr. President," Bruce said. That was the trouble; they were all too damned kind, and polite. Everybody on Kepler III smiled all the time, and each person he met vied with the other in the utterance of embarrassingly fulsome compliments. Despite the fact that Ichiwara, Magnus's assistant, had briefed him carefully on the Japanese habit of using speech to conceal rather than reveal one's true thoughts, Bruce found that the reality beggared the description. Social life on Kepler III was like constant total immersion in a barrel of molasses.
The president lowered his rotund body into a chair, and motioned Bruce to take another close by him. Bruce obeyed. The prospect of yet another exchange of meaningless platitudes chafed as much as his over-tight full-dress uniform, but one just didn't walk out on a president.
"I have been meaning to ask you, commander," Kido said; "is my Colonel Hitachi giving you all the cooperation you need?"
"He was been most helpful," Bruce said truthfully. "But I'm afraid results so far haven't been encouraging. The fugitives seem to have disappeared into thin air."
"Ah, well, a minor matter," Kido said, waving one fat hand on which a ring with a diamond as big as an ice cube glittered. "After all, you are better off without such people. I would wish that some of my own malcontents might disappear so conveniently."
"Malcontents, here on Kepler?"
Kido's great belly shook, jellylike, as he chuckled. "My dear commander, you look shocked. Please forgive me for mentioning the subject."
"No . . . not at all. It is merely that everyone I have met here appears to be well contented and happy."
"Ah, everyone you have met, perhaps," said the president. "But I fear that, even in paradise, there are those who would find some cause for complaint, and Kepler III, despite the efforts of three generations of our people, is still not quite a paradise."
Bruce surveyed the bland features of his host thoughtfully. It would be interesting to know just where Shanon Kido stood in the private assessment of Charles Magnus, and what plans Magnus had for the president's future if, and when, independence was granted to the planet. As far as Bruce himself was concerned, the very fact that Kido was a politician was sufficient to make him uneasy and mistrustful in the man's presence.
"An interesting point of view, Mr. President," Bruce said. "Although it seems..."
He stopped talking as a thin man wearing a dark blue zipper-suit burst through the open doorway and hurried across to Kido.
"Mr. President, I have to talk with you—now!" The man's voice crackled with tension.
A shadow of irritation passed over Kido's Buddha-like features. "Doctor Sato, please. This is hardly the time..."
"Let me be the judge of that, Mr. President. I have just returned from Minaku, and..
"Dr. Sato, you are discourteous in the extreme," ♦ Kido interrupted sharply. "I am entertaining an honored guest."
The man wheeled and saw Bruce for the first time.
"Commander Bruce, this is Doctor Sato, my Minister of Health," said Kido.
"Commander," Sato bowed slightly. "I must apologize for the intrusion."
"Dr. Sato," Bruce said, rising to his feet, noting the grayish pallor of the man's bony features, and the agitation flickering in his deep-set eyes.
"Mr. President, please . . ." Sato turned back to Kido. "I'm sure the commander will excuse us . . ."
"Gentlemen, I think it would be better if I left you to your business," Bruce said. "Obviously it is a matter of some urgency."
"No, no, Commander Bruce," said Kido, maneuvering his bulky body out of the chair in which he had been sitting. "Doctor Sato and I will retire to my study. Please make yourself comfortable."
Bruce watched curiously as the oddly assorted couple walked through the doorway into the lounge, wondering what kind of an emergency could have produced such an interruption.
"Doctor Sato, I find your suggestion that any such evacuation might have taken place under my direction slanderous, to say the least," President Kido said.
Kenji Sato, his first rage dissipated, sat on the edge of a chair, an increasing feeling of helplessness enveloping him as he searched the round, indignant features of the president.
Kido continued righteously: "I would remind you that the Intensive Care Unit was set up under your guidance, and run under your supervision. Therefore I suggest that whatever may have gone wrong there must be directly your own responsibility."
Sato bowed his head. "You're right, of course, Mr. President. The least I can do under the circumstances is to offer my resignation ..."
"Resignation? Nonsense, man! What possible good could that do? Kepler III needs you, Doctor Sato. Now, let us consider this matter rationally, and see if we can arrive at some explanation. You say that there was no sign of violence at the hospital, that nothing had been disturbed?"
"Apart from the broken doll, and that could have been an accident," Sato said. "It would seem that the evacuation, if that is what it was, was carried out quite peaceably, with the cooperation of Yamaguchi and his staff."
"I take it that you discard outright the idea that Yamaguchi himself might have decided for some reason to abandon the hospital?"
"Don't you?" Sato said. "Sixty kilometers to the nearest town, through densely wooded country."
"And the alternative?"
"The arrival of a well-organized force, with the necessary transport, and documents capable of proving to Yamaguchi's satisfaction that it was his duty to cooperate."
"I have already assured you that no such operation has been mounted with my knowledge."
"It could hardly have been without," Sato said.
"I'm not entirely sure of that," Kido said, frowning thoughtfully. 'There has been considerable to-and-fro-ing from
Venturer Twelve,
the Corps ship—especially since this business of the desertion of two of their crew members."
Sato nodded.
"Hitachi's police have been cooperating, of course. But there have also been a considerable number of flights by aircraft from the Corps ship in which our people have not been directly involved. It occurs to me that one of these search parties could have come upon the Intensive Care Unit by accident, and gone down to investigate."
"So far north?"
Kido shrugged massively. "The remoteness of the region might well be the very factor which caused them to search there."
"You realize what you're suggesting," Sato said. "If that is what happened then why haven't the investigating team informed us?"
"Then let us pray that I am wrong," said the president. "If such an operation has been carried out, we are unlikely to hear anything of it from Magnus until he has investigated the matter fully and is completely sure of his ground."
"And our hopes of gaining independence smashed beyond possibility of retrieval," Sato said. "This Commander Bruce with whom you were talking. He would surely know?"
"The Explorations Division officer is an extremely devious man," Kido said. "I doubt very much whether he would have taken the brave commander into his confidence at this stage."
"Then we must do as I suggested before, and approach Magnus without further delay, giving him the full story."
"And throw ourselves on his mercy?" Kido said. "No, Doctor Sato, that would be foolhardy until we are sure that this is the correct'explanation of the incident."
"Then what should we do?"
"You must continue with your work as before, and leave the matter to me, Sato. In the meantime, I shall speak with Colonel Hitachi and have him send a squad of investigators to the Intensive Care Unit There may be some traces, some clues about the nature of the evacuation which you missed during your visit."
COM
QXYPRL to
BIOCOM H.Q.
15/67/789
Sample specimens collected as per instructions. Operation successful with min
imum
disturbance of environment. bipedal units in immediate area eliminated.
Examination of specimens with reference to specifications Project Biocom VX2541D now proceeding. Report scheduled fifteen cycles from now.
When Mia came in, Piet was squatting on the edge of the
futon
bedding. He was wearing the thin white sleeping suit which Tana Sato had bought for him at the local market, and which, being made to average Kepler III measurements, was far too small. He was holding a bottle in one hand and a glass in the other, and when she came close to him and kissed his ear she could smell the reek of alcohol.
"Piet..He made no response, continuing to stare in front of him.
"Piet, what's the matter? What are you drinking?"
He held up the bottle, and looked at her with glazed eyes. "Vodka. Kepler-type vodka, but still average plus." His voice was slurred and thick.
She squatted beside him. "Once, you hardly drank at all."
"Once..."
"Piet, love—you're not drunk, are you?"
"No, not drunk—just bored and bloody useless," he said morosely.
"But where did you get the vodka?"
"Nearest thing they had to schnapps ... down at the Magnolia bar, at the crossroads." He jerked a thumb.