Chapter VI

The next several weeks Hale spent in going from village to village on the mainland, dispensing the drugs he had received from the _Caduceus_. There were seven major villages, including the capital, where the Commander of Cardigan's Green lived, and twelve smaller ones which were not much more than little clots of houses scattered over the countryside. He had to walk every foot of it, but he didn't mind; it was worth it.

The disease spread like ink on a blotter as Hale tramped from town to town. He took with him three men who had recovered from the epidemic; they carried the drugs while Hale strolled along unburdened. But they didn't mind; it was an honor to help the man who fearlessly helped to stem the tide of the awful Plague.

But in spite of his best efforts, three thousand people, nearly a tenth of the total population, succumbed to the terror. Hale, perhaps, could have sent others around to administer the panacea, but he insisted that only he knew how to do it.

And only he--but of _course_--collected the diamonds for his services. Those who were really poor were treated for nothing, but those who had Crystals were soaked--but good.

And then, at last, it was over; it had burned itself out. The people of Cardigan's Green could relax once again.

Hale wended his way back to Taun, which had become the new capital. The old Commander had died, and Yon the Fisher, backed by Hale's word-of-mouth propaganda and his own reputation, had been elected to the position.

"Yon, old friend," said Hale when he had been admitted to that worthy's august presence, "we are, I think, ready to do business."

"Business?" asked the new Commander.

"In the matter of your spaceship," Hale reminded him.

They were sitting in the same modest stone house that Yon had always lived in; he had not yet had time to build a larger, more sumptuous home--a home fit for a Commander.

Caryl, her eyes demurely lowered, served them cups of the purple ferment as they sat at the stone table.

"Oh, yes; the spaceship. Are your people ready to go back to the stars, then?" Yon asked shrewdly.

"As a matter of fact, no," Hale said. "Actually, we've grown used to Cardigan's Green in the past twelve years. We've decided to stay. Now that we have medicines which will stop the Plague, we feel we should move to the mainland--under your benevolent Commandership, of course."

Yon looked pleased for a moment, then his eyes narrowed. "But what about the spaceship?"

"Oh, you'll get that, naturally. But it will have to be paid for in Crystals." He named a figure.

Yon's eyes grew wide. "But that's almost half of my total wealth!"

"That's true. But there are so many of us aboard the _Caduceus_, and none of us has any of the new coin of the realm. Oh, a little, perhaps, from the sale of our drugs, but we asked so little. And of you, we asked nothing at all to save your life."

"He's perfectly right, Yon," Caryl said suddenly. "We both owe him our lives."

"Besides," persisted Hale, "you have Crystals coming from the estate of the previous Commander. _He_ certainly had plenty." Hale didn't mention that the previous Commander had given him almost all of his diamonds in return for Hale's futile attempt to save his life.

"That's true," Yon agreed, brightening perceptibly.

"Furthermore," Hale continued inexorably, "my people will, of course, spend this money, which will be divided evenly among us. I think a man of your proven ability will be able to get most of it back in a short time."

In the end, the bargain was sealed. Hale walked out to the ship and spent two days doing nothing while Yon looked on. Finally, Yon got bored and went home to Caryl, and Hale wrapped up the repair job in short order--plus one little addition of his own.

Then he lifted the ship on its antigravs and flew to Taun to collect his bill.

* * * * *

Yon paid promptly. He was overjoyed. He positively bubbled. He learned to control it in the atmosphere very quickly, and Leland Hale decided to end the whole job as rapidly as possible.

"I suggest we fly out to the Island," he said. "I'll tell my people that they can move to the mainland, and give them their share of the Crystals."

It was Yon who did the piloting. He did a very creditable job of settling down to the plateau near the _Caduceus_. Hale asked him to remain with the ship while he went to the hospital ship.

Hale stepped out of the ship, and he hadn't gone more than ten paces when the speaker called: "Halt! Stop or we fire!"

Hale identified himself. "You can let me in now," he called. "The Plague has been completely whipped."

Captain Doctor Wills met him at the airlock of the _Caduceus_ and wrung his hand. "I'm glad to see you carried it off!" He had once been a tall, strong, lean man; now he was merely lean and bent.

"I haven't much time to talk, sit," Hale said rapidly. "I've got the diamond--here. Call the Health Center as soon as I leave and tell them what's happened."

"Why--why--What's the matter?"

"Can't you see? That ship is the _Morris_--they've repaired it!"

"But I thought you said the Plague had been eliminated!"

Hale shook his head. "Not completely, sir. They're still carriers. I'm not a carrier, myself; I checked that on my own instruments. But these people are; only the virulent phase has been stopped."

"What are you going to do, Lieutenant?"

Hale drew himself up. "The only thing I can do, sir. I'll have to blow up that ship before it reaches an inhabited planet. They insist that I go with them, but they'll leave without me if I stay here too long."

"But you! If you're aboard--"

"I can't see any other way, sir," Hale said bravely. "It's my life against hundreds of thousand--perhaps millions." He stopped and a look of wild hope came into his eyes. "Of course, if you've got enough power to shoot it down now, sir--"

The captain doctor, visibly shaken, said: "No. Not after twelve years. If we were in space, perhaps, but the atmospheric ionization--"

"I understand, sir. Goodbye, sir." He grasped the captain doctor's hand warmly, then turned and ran back to the _Morris_.

"Take her up, Yon. Head toward the mountains."

"The mountains? The Peniyan Range?" Yon looked puzzled.

"That's right. I want to see how she'll do at higher altitudes."

They flew back and forth over the range until Hale had spotted the place where his own ship was hidden. Then he turned to the new Commander of Cardigan's Green.

"Yon, old friend, I think you're ready to fly her solo. All by yourself."

Yon the Fisher beamed. "Really? Well, perhaps I am."

"Set her down on that level space there." Hale pointed below.

When the ship was grounded, he opened the airlock and climbed out. "Now here's what you do, Yon. Take her up to thirty thousand feet and fly level, due south. Now, don't try to leave the atmosphere; you're not ready for that yet. Go south for fifteen minutes, then make a one-eighty degree turn and come back. Got it? Fine. Now, be careful; don't get yourself hurt."

He stepped out and watched the ship lift and head south. Ten minutes later, he heard a muffled sound, like distant thunder. Smiling with satisfaction, he headed for his own ship with a fortune in diamonds in his pack.

* * * * *

Captain Doctor Wills sent out the full story as he knew it. Health Center received it and so did most of the galactic news services. Hale was a hero who had sacrificed his life for medicine and humanity. When Health Center found they had no Leland Hale on their register, there was an investigation and an attempt to quash the story, but it was too late.

The fact that Hale himself had knowingly spread influenza across the face of Cardigan's Green meant nothing to anyone; no one even suspected it. Blowing up the _Morris_ with his "old friend" Yon the Fisher inside was not an act of altruism; Hale didn't care what happened to the rest of the galaxy, but he could not make a fortune from empty planets, and he couldn't have spent it on worlds decimated by disease.

He didn't care for people in general, but he thought Leland Hale was a nice guy.

And the people of Cardigan's Green agreed with him. He had given his all for them and died with their Commander in trying to free them from their planet.

Even today, standing in the central square of the city of Taun on Cardigan's Green, the populace (long since rid of the virus that caused the actual Plague) can see a heroic statue of a nobly visaged man in a zipsuit and insulation jacket, hands on hips, staring at the sky with narrowed eyes.

On the base of the statue, the inscription reads:

LELAND HALE
Who Risked His Life That
Others Might Live