"I'm on my way out," Walsh rasped. "Finished, do you understand?"
"Good," I said. And I meant it.
"This Mars thing. A terrible fix. Terrible."
Beside me, a slight frown crossed Joe's face. Apparently he couldn't
understand the seriousness of our voices. What had happened to the
game, the fun?
"You brought the Mars business on yourself," I told Walsh. "There was
never any trouble before you took command."
"The natives," he practically shouted. "They ... they...."
Joe caught his breath sharply, and I wondered what Walsh was going to
say about the natives. Apparently he'd realized that Joe was a native.
Or maybe Joe's knife had something to do with it.
"What about the natives?" I asked.
"Nothing," Walsh said. "Nothing." He was silent for a while.
"A man of my calibre," he said then, his face grim. "Dealing with
savages." He caught himself again and threw a hasty glance at Joe.
The perplexed frown had grown heavier on Joe's face. He looked at the
colonel in puzzlement.
* * * * *
Walsh turned from Joe and raised the stun gun. I wondered if he had yet
realized that Joe was one of a million Joes scattered all over this
planet, that Joe was all the natives on Venus. That Joe was all the
natives everywhere throughout the galaxy. I looked at Walsh's eyes. He
was a sick man, alone with his thoughts in the middle of a stinking
jungle.
"I'm on my way out, Major," he said, "but you won't get a chance to
succeed where I've failed. No. Oh no. I'll see to that."
"And you had to come all the way to Venus to do it?"
"Don't joke," Walsh snapped. "Don't joke, Major. It's not funny. It's
not funny at all."
"It's pretty sad, I'd say."
"You can't afford to say anything," Walsh remarked drily. "You're going
to be dead in a very few minutes."
Joe's eyes widened, and I saw indecision cross his features as he tried
to understand what had happened to the game.
"What'll they say back on Earth when they hear about this?" I asked.
"When will they hear about it? Four, five months from now? By then, my
little trip will have been forgotten. Besides, I'm here on a routine
check. Everyone knows that."
"A routine check on Venus? Mars is your territory."
"One of my men is up here," Walsh said. "That gives me temporary
jurisdiction. At least enough to visit the planet and see how
conditions are. Anyway, I'll be home long before Joe here carries your
body in."
Joe shook his head imperceptibly but Walsh didn't catch it.
"A casualty in the jungle," Walsh continued. "The native will return
to the Station and explain the accident. I'll be back on Earth long
before he reaches there."
"Sure," I said, "nice and simple. You kill me and Joe delivers the news
and takes the rap. Good old sucker Joe."
"That's about enough out of you," Walsh said.
"Go ahead, Colonel," I shouted. "Pull the trigger. Then run off and
leave Joe to...."
"I said that's enough out of you!" Walsh shouted.
I turned to face Joe. His mouth was drawn across his face in a tight
emotionless line. He stepped in front of me and stared at Walsh.
"Get out of the way," Walsh commanded.
Joe shook his head slowly. "This is not what you told me. A friend, you
said. A surprise. You said you wanted to...."
"Get out of the way, you damned sav...."
With one swift movement Joe leaped forward. The knife gleamed in his
hand and there was momentary panic on Walsh's face.
The stun gun snapped up. It crackled once in the Venusian jungle, its
blast blinding me for a moment. It shuddered through Joe's left arm and
paralyzed it momentarily.
But the hand with the knife was hacking away at Walsh's throat, the
blood dripping down over the silver planet on the collar of his tunic.