What each might have "seen fit" was academic; we did not know what to ask for.
It remained a creeping war, a silent war, with battles lost before we knew they were joined. After the debacle of Schedule Counter Blast, conventional weapons were hardly used, except in police action in Zone Amber-which was now a double no-man's-land on each side of Zone Red, from the trackless Canadian forests to the Mexican deserts. It was almost deserted in the daytime of any life larger than birds and mice, save for our own patrols. At night our scouts drew back and the dogs came through-and other things, perhaps.
At the time Mary and I arrived back only one atom bomb had been used in the entire war and that against a flying saucer that landed near San Francisco just south of Burlingame. Its destruction was according to doctrine, but the doctrine was now under criticism; the saucer should have been captured for study, so it was argued, if we were to learn enough about our foe to fight successfully. I found my sympathies with those who wanted to shoot first and study later.
By the time the dose of tempus was beginning to wear off I had a picture of the United States in a shape that I had not imagined even when I was in saturated Kansas City-a country undergoing a Terror. Friend might shoot friend, or wife denounce husband. Rumor of a titan could drum up a mob on any street, with Old Judge Lynch baying in their van. To rap on a door at night was to invite a blast through the door rather than a friendly response. Honest folk stayed home; at night the dogs were out-and others.
The fact that most of the rumored discoveries of slugs were baseless made the rumors no less dangerous. It was not exhibitionism which caused many people to prefer outright nudity to the tight and scanty clothing permitted under Schedule Sun Tan; even the skimpiest clothing invited a doubtful second look, a suspicion that might be decided too abruptly. The head-and-spine armor was never worn now; the slugs had faked it and used it almost at once. And there had been the case of a girl in Seattle; she had been dressed in sandals and a big purse, nothing else-but a Vigilante who apparently had developed a nose for the enemy followed her and noticed that she never, under any circumstances, moved the purse from her right hand, even when she opened it to make change.
She lived, for he burned her arm off at the wrist, and I suppose that she had a new one grafted on; the supply of such spare parts was almost a glut. The slug was alive, too, when the Vigilante opened the purse– but not for long.
When I came across this in the briefing I realized with a shudder that I had not been too safe even in carrying my shorts through the streets; any slug-sized burden was open to suspicion.
The drug had worn off by the time I scanned this incident and I was back in contact with my surroundings. I mentioned the matter to the nurse. "Mustn't worry," she told me. "It does no good. Now flex the fingers of your right hand, please."
I flexed them, while she helped the doctor spray on surrogate skin. I noticed that she was taking no chances; she wore no bra at all and her so-to-speak shorts were actually more of a G-string. The doctor was dressed about the same. "Wear gloves for rough work," the doctor cautioned, "and come back next week."
I thanked them and went to the operations office. I looked for Mary first, but found that she was busy in Cosmetics.
Chapter 25
Hands all right?" the Old Man asked when they let me in.
"They'll do. False skin for a week. They do a graft job on my ear tomorrow."
He looked vexed. "I forgot your ear. There's no time for a graft to heal; Cosmetics will have to fake one for you."
"The ear doesn't matter," I told him, "but why bother to fake it? Impersonation job?"
"Not exactly. Now that you've been briefed, what do you think of the situation?"
I wondered what answer he was fishing for. "Not good," I conceded. "Everybody watching everybody else. Might as well be behind the Curtain. Shucks," I admitted, going overboard, "this is worse. You can usually bribe a communist, but what bribe can you offer a slug?"
"Hmm-" he commented. "That's an interesting thought. What would constitute a bribe inducement to a titan?"
"Look, that was a rhetorical question. I-"
"And my restatement of it was not rhetorical; we'll farm it out for theoretical investigation."
"Grabbing at straws these days, aren't you?"
"Precisely. Now about the rest of your comment; would you say that it was easier to penetrate and maintain surveillance in the Soviet Union or in Zone Red. Which would you rather tackle?"
I eyed him suspiciously. "There's a catch in this. You don't let a man pick his assignment."
"I asked you for a professional opinion."
"Mmmm . . . I don't have enough data. Tell me; are there slugs behind the Curtain?"
"That," he answered, "is just what I would like to find out."
I realized suddenly that Mary had been right; agents should not marry. If this job were ever finished, I wanted to hire out to count sheep for a rich insomniac or, something equally soft. "This time of year," I said, "I think I'd want to enter through Canton. Unless you were figuring on a drop?"
"What makes you think I want you to go into the USSR?" he asked. "We might find out what we want to know quicker and easier in Zone Red."
"Huh?"
"Certainly. If there is infection anywhere but in this continent, the titans in Zone Red must know about it. Why go half around the globe to find out?"
I put aside the plans I had been forming to be a Hindu merchant, travelling with his wife, and thought about what he was saying. Could be . . . could be. "How in the devil can Zone Red be penetrated now?" I asked. "Do I wear a plastic imitation slug on my shoulder blades? They'd catch me the first time I was called on for direct conference. Or before."
"Don't be a defeatist. Four agents have gone in already."
"And come back?"
"Well, no, not exactly. That's the rub."
"And you want me to be the fifth? Have you decided that I've cluttered up the payroll long enough?"
"I think the others used the wrong tactics-"
"Obviously!"
"The trick is to convince them that you are a renegade. Got any ideas?"
The idea was overwhelming, so much so that I did not answer at once. Finally I burst out, "Why not start me easy? Can't I impersonate a Panama pimp for a while? Or practice being an ax murderer? I have to get into the mood for this."
"Easy," he said. "It may not be practical-"
"Hmmph!"
"But you might bring it off. You've had more experience with their ways than any agent I've got. You must be rested up, aside from that little singe you got on your fingers. Or maybe we should drop you near Moscow and let you take a direct look. Think it over. Don't get into a fret about it for maybe another day."
"Thanks. Thank you too much." I changed the subject. "What have you got planned for Mary?"
"Why don't you stick to your own business?"
"I'm married to her."
"Yes."
"Well, for the love of Pete! Is that all you've got to say? Don't you even want to wish me luck?"