He swallowed the two pills and pointed to a sheet of paper upon which
he had been writing. "Did you know they were the richest cities in the
System?"
"Rich? No, Hol-Dai, you must be wrong. They have nothing but
pestilence."
<tb>
He smiled at that and waggled a finger. "The plague is their
protection, my son. Conquer that, and you will come upon the greatest
treasure known to mankind. Listen...."
Well, I heard him out, patiently at first, then gradually with more
and more interest. It was a madman's story in every detail, and yet
there was something about it that got me. I knew how the seven cities
of the High Ganymedian Plateau were first raided by Conway and his
Earth Brigade after enjoying several thousand years' culture on this,
the third satellite of Jupiter. How the captured emperor of the seven
cities swore a curse of vengeance for the mishandling of his people and
in some unknown way introduced the strange and terrible plague which
was to turn the seven metropoli into pest-holes avoided and shunned by
Earth and Jovian colonists alike.
Then Hol-Dai said something which made me prick up my ears. "Why," he
said, "do you think the emperor introduced that plague? For vengeance
alone? A ruler's vengeance does not go as far as dooming his people
forever. No, my son, for another reason."