"I don't think so, when you see the point. You're forgetting that in
this case, a false cure is just as deadly as the disease. I don't
know just how full of the virus the air is hereabouts, but as far as
either of us can tell, you may be cutting down your chances of getting
infected. Evans' chance, and mine, with full exposure, will be four out
of five. That means if we can't find out for sure whether we have it,
we can take an injection and be 80 percent sure of being right.
"How sure can you be?"
Stokely's face set in a grim mask as the realization sank in. He
removed his globe and set it out before him on the ground. Again the
gun raised to Archer's chest.
"Okay, bright lad, you put it on!"
Archer smiled thinly and shook his head. "Could you be sure that I
don't know more about the infection than I've admitted? In which case,
it might be a trick to get the globe for myself."
Stokely's face was twisting dangerously again, and Archer went on
quickly:
"Better leave us all in the same boat, anyhow--it'll work out better
later on."
It was a full, tense minute before Stokely's fury subsided to a point
where he could speak.
"I think I'm making a mistake in letting you live," he said thickly.
"This plan of yours had better be good. How does it work--with mirrors?
Let's have it!"
"Lacking mirrors of a size which would show a good contrast--say about
ten feet square," Archer returned calmly, "we'll have to use other
means. My plan will give each of us an equal chance, at least. I'll
tell you the first part now: we take all the jade we can find around
here, before dark if possible, and go back to the ship. I'll tell you
the next step when we get there. If that isn't good enough--or if an 80
percent chance _is_--you can shoot and be damned!"
* * * * *
It was nearly three hours later, very dark and very cold, when they
returned to the ship. Archer and Evans carried Dr. Grimwood's body,
consigned to the same storage compartment as the dead prospector's.
Stokely evidently had not altogether abandoned his original plan for
disposing of the evidence. The question now, Archer thought grimly, was
how many bodies there would be.
Stokely himself carried the jade, of course. Under his prodding, they
had literally left no stone unturned in the vicinity of the deposit. It
had yielded nine pieces of varying size and a total weight of perhaps a
hundred and fifty carats. They added up to riches beyond imagining.
One of the lockers, as would be expected aboard a prospector's ship,
contained an assortment of standard chemicals, and Archer lost no time
in locating a bottle of ethyl alcohol. There was also a balance and a
set of weights.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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