take their drugs, weren't they?" she asked, hoping for the
worst and certain she was right.
"Yes, this is drug refusal." Major Grey paused while she
relished the answer. "But I must correct you in one impres-
sion. Your proper drug levels do not assure that you will
act logically in this matter. The drugged mind is logical.
However, its fundamental datum is that the drugs and
drugged minds must be protected before everything else." He
watched Conrad's face while he added, "Because of this, it
is possible for you to arrive logically at a conclusion that. . .
death is the required solution." He paused, looking at their
white lips. Then he said, "Actually, other, more suitable solu-
tions may be possible."
"But they were refusing their drugs," she said. "You talk
as if you are defending them. Aren't you a Medicorps prose-
cutor?"
"I do not prosecute people in the ancient 20th Century
sense, Mrs. Walden. I prosecute the acts of drug refusal and
communication breaks. There is quite a difference."
"Well!" she said almost explosively. "I always knew Bill
would get into trouble sooner or later with his wild, antisocial
ideas. I never dreamed the Medicorps would take his side."
Major Grey held his breath, almost certain now that she
would walk into the trap. If she did, he could save Clara
Manz before the trial.
"After all, they have broken every communication code.
They have refused the drugs, a defiance aimed at our very
lives. They"
"Shut up!" It was the first time Conrad Manz had spoken
since he sat down. "The Medicorps spent weeks gathering
evidence and preparing their recommendations. You haven't
seen any of that and you've already made up your mind. How
logical is that? It sounds as if you want your husband dead.
Maybe the poor devil had some reason, after all, for what he
did." On the man's face there was the nearest approach to
bate that the drugs would allow.
Major Grey let his breath out softly. They were split per-
manently. She would have to trade him a mild decision on
Clara in order to save Bill. And even there, if the subsequent
evidence gave any slight hope. Major Grey believed now that
he could work on Conrad to hang the lay judgment and let
the Medicorps' scientific recommendation go through unmodi-
fied.
He let them stew in their cross-purposed silence for a while
and then nailed home a disconcerting fact.
"I think I should remind you that there are a few ad-
vantages to having your alter extinguished in the mnemonic
eraser. A man whose hyperalter has been extinguished must
report on his regular shift days to a hospital and be placed
for five days in suspended animation. This is not very healthy
for the body, but necessary. Otherwise, everyone's natural dis-
taste for his own alter and the understandable wish to spend
twice as much time living would generate schemes to have
one's alter sucked out by the eraser. That happened exten-
sively back in the 21st Century before the five-day suspension.
was required. It was also used as a 'cure' for schizophrenia,
but it was, of course, only the brutal murder of innocent
personalities."
Major Grey smiled grimly to himself. "Now I will have to
'ask you both to accompany me to the hospital. I will want
you, Mrs. Walden, to shift at once to Mrs. Manz. Mr.
Manz, you will have to remain under the close observation of
an officer until Bill Walden tries to shift back. We have to
catch him with an injection to keep him in shift."
The young medicop put the syringe aside and laid his
hand on Bill Walden's forehead. He pushed the hair back
out of Bill's eyes.
"There, Mr. Walden, you don't have to struggle now."
Bill let his breath out in a long sigh. "You've caught me.
I can't shift any more, can I?"
"That's right, Mr. Walden. Not unless we want you to."
The young man picked up his medical equipment and stepped
aside.
Bill noticed then the Medicorps officer standing in the
background. The man was watching as though he contem-
plated some melancholy distance. "I am Major Grey, Bill. I'm
handling your case."
Bill did not answer. He lay staring at the hospital ceiling.
Then he felt his mouth open in a slow grin.
"What's funny?" Major Grey asked mildly.
"Leaving my hypoalter with my wife," Bill answered can-
didly. It had already ceased to be funny to him, but he saw
Major Grey smile in spite of himself.
"They were quite upset when I found them. It must have
been some scramble before that." Major Grey came over
and sat in the chair vacated by the young man who had
just injected Bill. "You know, Bill, we will need a complete
analysis of you. We want to do everything we can to save
you, but it will require your co-operation."
Bill nodded, feeling his chest tighten. Here it came. Right
to the end they would be tearing him apart to find out
what made him work.
Major Grey must have sensed Bill's bitter will to resist.
His resonant voice was soft, his face kindly. "We must
have your sincere desire to help. We can't force you to do
anything."
"Except die," Bill said.
"Maybe helping us get the information that might save
your life at the trial isn't worth the trouble to you. But your
aberration has seriously disturbed the lives of several people.
Don't you think you owe it to them to help us to prevent
this sort of thing in the future?" Major Grey ran his hand
through his whitening hair. "I thought you would like to know
Mary will come through all right. We will begin shortly to
acclimatize her to her new appointed parents, who will be
visiting her each day. "That will accelerate her recovery a
great deal. Of course, right now she is still inaccessible."
The brutally clear picture of Mary alone in the storage-
room crashed back into Bill's mind. After a while, in such
slow stages that the beginning was hardly noticeable, he be-
gan to cry. The young medicop injected him with a sleeping
compound, but not before Bill knew he would do whatever
the Medicorps wanted.
The next day was crowded with battery after battery of
tests. The interviews were endless. He was subjected to a
hundred artificial situations and every reaction from his blood
sugar to the frequency ranges of his voice was measured.
They gave him only small amounts of drugs in order to test
his reaction to them.
Late in the evening. Major Grey came by and interrupted
an officer who was taking an electro-encephalogram for the
sixth time after injection of a drug.
"All right. Bill, you have really given us co-operation. But
after you've had your dinner, I hope you won't mind if I
come to your room and talk with you for a little while."
When Bill finished eating, he waited impatiently in his
room for the Medicorps officer. Major Grey came soon after.
He shook his head at the mute question Bill shot at him.
"No, Bill. We will not have the results of your tests evalu-
ated until late tomorrow morning. I can't tell you a thing
until the trial in any case."
"When will that be?"
"As soon as the evaluation of your tests is in." Major
Grey ran his hand over bis smooth chin and seemed to sigh.
'Tell me, Bill, how do you feel about your case? How did
you get into this situation and what do you think about it