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doses at Albuquerque. Quick, quick! Denver Regional! Replacement. B lives
dies. Personal idiosyncrasies? Perhaps, except without exception all A's die.
Half of B's and C's live! "
And D gets a dose at Creston. Quick, quick! Central Regional! D always
recovers! Same technique. Same handling of blood. Same every thing except
patients. So. Different strains of KVIN? After all, different space
ports-different space sectors-different factors. So, E picks up a dose on the
Coast. Quick, quick! Central Regional. Replacement. Recovery!"
Northen hunched forward again, crowding the table tight against Ainsworthy.
"So transport all the A's and B's and C's to Central? Not enough blood supply.
Bring in more from other Regionals. It won't work at Central any better than
where it came from! So--See? An answer to find and definitely in this area.
Now all I need is a case to follow through to get me started."
It had fallen to Ainsworthy to escort Northen about the Unit, to acquaint him
with the area and answer any questions he might have concerning procedures and
facilities. The two were in the small public lounge one afternoon, pausing
between activities while Northen groaned over his aching feet and legs.
"I'm used to skidders," he boomed. "Faster, more efficient, less wearing on
the legs! Just step on, toe the switch-swish!" He gestured with a massive arm.
"This Unit is really too small for skidders," said Ainsworthy. "Occasionally
we use flitters out in the grounds, but only a few bother. Most of us enjoy
walking. I do especially, since it's my relaxant."
"Really?" Northen peered in astonishment at Ainsworthy. "Imagine! Walking by
choice!"
"What's your relaxant?" Ainsworthy asked, remembering his manners.
"Blowing up balloons," said Northen proudly, "until they break! Bang! Wham!"
His arms flailed again. "There's satisfaction for you! They're finished! Gone!
Destroyed! Only a rag of rubber and a puff of carbon dioxide left! And I did
it!"
"Pleasant," murmured Ainsworthy, automatically falling into polite
phraseology, wishing Northen's eyes would not follow so intently every face
that passed, knowing he was waiting for someone to collapse from KVIN.
He wasn't long disappointed. As they toured Lab IIIC a few days later, one of
the lab assistants, Kief, carefully replacing the beaker he had been
displaying, took tight hold of the edge of the table, drew a quavering breath,
whispered, "Away!" and collapsed as though every bone in his body had been
dissolved, his still-open eyes conscious and frightened.
In the patterned flurry that followed, Northen was omnipresent, asking sharp
questions, making brief notes, his rumpled hair fairly bristling with his
intense interest and concentration.
The Healiocopter arrived and, receiving the patient, clacked away. Ainsworthy
and Northen, in one of the Unit vehicles-a mutation of the jeep-swung out of
the Unit parking lot and roared down the road to Central Regional, Northen
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struggling with the seat belt that cut a canyon across his bulk.
Northen peered at his notes as they bounced along. "How'd this Kief person
know he had KVIN?" he asked.
"Don't know exactly," said Ainsworthy. "It varies from person to person.
Clagget-the one before Kief, said a big brightness seemed to cut him in two
right across the chest and then his legs fell off. Others feel all wadded up
into a sticky black ball. Others feel as though each cell in their bodies is
being picked away as if from a bunch of grapes. I guess it depends a lot on
the person's imagination and his facility with words."
"And when he said, `Away' just before he collapsed. That was part of this
picking away idea?"
"No," Ainsworthy felt a surge of reluctance. "Away is the settlement next to
our Unit -a Detach."
"A Detach!" Ainsworthy smiled slightly, his ears battening down hatches
against Northen's expected roar. "Don't tell me you have any of those-!" He
bit off the last part of his sentence and almost the tip of his tongue as the
jeep regrettably bucketed up over a hump in the road.
"The people from Away are our main source of donors for replacements," said
Ainsworthy over Northen's muttered curses. "In fact, they've adopted it as a
community project. Regional knows it never has to look farther than Away for
an adequate number of donors-as long as the cases don't come too close
together, which, so far, they never have." They had arrived at the turn-off to
Away and jolted off the fairly good Unit road to the well-maintained dirt road
to the settlement.
"Surprises me that they'll give anything to the world. Thought they gave it up
along with the Flesh and the Devil!" grunted Northen, lisping a little.
"Maybe the World, but not the people in it," said Ainsworthy. "The most
generous people I know. Unselfish" He fell silent against Northen's barely
contained disgust.
"Why'd we turn off here?" asked Northen. "Thought we were headed for
Regional."
"No telephones," said Ainsworthy, swinging between the stone gateposts of the
drive to the Center. "Have to alert them." He was gratified that Northen fell
immediately into the almost silent role of observer and kept his thoughts to
himself.
Kemble met them at the door. "KVIN?" he asked, reading Ainsworthy's sober
face.
"Yes," said Ainsworthy. "It's Kief. You probably heard the Healiocopter. Who's
available?"
"Providentially, the workers are all in from the fields." Kemble stepped back
inside the Center, and, tugging the bell rope that hung just inside the door,
swung the bell into voice. Ten minutes later he spoke from the Center porch to
the crowd that had gathered from the stone and log houses that, with the
Center, formed a hollow square of buildings backed by the neat home vegetable
gardens, backed in their turn by wood lands and the scattered areas where each
family grew its field and cash crops.
"KVIN," said Kemble. "Who's available?"
Quickly a sub-group formed, more than twice as many as were needed if all were
accepted. The others scattered back to their individual pursuits. Kemble
gathered the donors together, briefly, speaking so quietly that Northen
rumbled to Ainsworthy, "What's he saying? What's going on?"
"They always pray before any important project," said Ainsworthy neutrally.
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