The heat from the sun was intense; the brilliant beams from the primary seemed to penetrate through the men's armor and through the insulation underneath, and made the marching even harder. Even so, in spite of the discomfort, the men were making good time until the disease struck. And that stopped them in their tracks. What the disease was or how it was spread is unknown and unknowable at this late date. Virus or bacterium, amoeba or fungus--whatever it was, it struck. Symptoms: Lassitude, weariness, weakness, and pain. Signs: Great, ulcerous, wartlike, blood-filled blisters that grew rapidly over the body. A man might go to sleep at night feeling reasonably tired, but not ill, and wake up in the morning to find himself unable to rise, his muscles too weak to lift him from his bed. If the blisters broke, or were lanced, it was almost impossible to stop the bleeding, and many died, not from the toxic effect of the disease itself, but from simple loss of blood. But, like many epidemics, the thing had a fairly short life span. After two weeks, it had burned itself out. Most of those who got it recovered, and a few were evidently immune. Eighteen men remained behind in shallow graves. The rest went on. X No man is perfect. Even with four decades of training behind him, Commander Frank couldn't call the turn every time. After the first few villages, there were no further battles. The natives, having seen what the invaders could do, simply showed up missing when the commander and his men arrived. The villages were empty by the time the column reached the outskirts. Frater Vincent, the agent of the Universal Assembly, complained in no uncertain terms about this state of affairs. "As you know, commander," he said frowningly one morning, "it's no use trying to indoctrinate a people we can't contact. And you can't subject a people by force of arms alone; the power of the Truth--" "I know, Frater," the commander interposed quickly. "But we can't deal with these savages in the hinterlands. When we get a little farther into this barbarian empire, we can take the necessary steps to--" "The Truth," Frater Vincent interrupted somewhat testily, "is for all men. It works, regardless of the state of civilization of the society." The commander looked out of the unglazed window of the native hut in which he had established his temporary headquarters, in one of the many villages he had taken--or, rather, walked into without a fight because it was empty. "But you'll admit, Frater, that it takes longer with savages." "True," said Frater Vincent.