The Colonel nodded and went on. "He has agreed to give us the biochemical formulas of the viruses plus methods of growth, how to make the vaccine against them, and finally a sample of each culture to work with. We believe that if we have that information ... and also we hope to sabotage their installation ... we can defeat the attack before it ever starts. We plan to destroy their nerve gas centers at the same time and aid the rebellion," he concluded, "but that doesn't concern us here." * * * * * "I still don't see what I do," I said, although I had an uneasy suspicion. "You were a paratrooper, weren't you? And you served in Korea." "Yes, a long time ago," I admitted grudgingly. "And you are a virologist?" "You know that." "You also speak some Japanese, Korean and Chinese." "I wish I'd never admitted it." "We want you to parachute into North Korea with a Special Forces Group, go to this plant, get the necessary information and sample viruses. The information cannot be written down for security reasons and because of this and the dangerous nature of the viruses we feel that only a man of your qualifications can be trusted to handle it." "That's what I was afraid of," I said. "Will you do it?" "In the name of heaven, Colonel!" I exploded. "Twenty minutes ago all I had on my mind was catching a fish for supper and now you want a snap decision that may cost me my life." "I'm sorry, Doctor," his face froze again, "but we haven't much time." "The hell with deadlines," I growled. "I'm not on active duty now and no damn chairborne Pentagon pencil pusher is going to impose a time limit on me. Let him get out and do it himself if he can't wait." "Unfortunately you are the best qualified," he said stiffly. "Yeah, unfortunately for me," I sneered. "How is it the guys best qualified for the dirtiest jobs don't seem to be best qualified for promotion too?" "John, please!" Pat put a hand on my shoulder. "Sorry Colonel," I choked down my anger. "You hit some raw nerves with that best qualified remark." "I'm sorry too, Doctor. We know you've already done more than your share. Perhaps if you think it over for a while, you'll want to help us." "How do you propose to go about it," Hallam said to Jones. "Colonel Macdonald, or a substitute, will have to renew his airborne training and get into first class physical shape. There will also be language school to brush up on his Korean and Japanese, with some basic Russian." "Why Japanese?" "It was the official language in Korea until after World War Two and many of the older people can speak it. What he misses in Korean he might be able to pick up in Japanese." "How long will this take?" Pat said.