Bairn, apparently speaking absentmindedly, said:
"Arlie's wife, Mary, has the radio disease. She's in the first stage.
Has the blue coloring. It means everything to Arlie that this ship
gets to Venus and back. Venus has the only radio-active static compound
that matches the stuff from the meteorite."
"Yes," Joe said. "I know. It was only luck that scientist, Struthers,
had that meteorite in the room with him when he had the disease. It
cured him. And then scientists and astronomers searched star spectrums
to find a match for the color scheme that they found in the meteorite
metal."
"This ship," Bairn put in, "cost billions; it meant the first real
cooperative program the world's nations ever had. It would be ghastly
if one man caused the destruction of Earth's last hope from doom.
Wouldn't it, Joe?"
Joe's face was grim as he nodded.
"How would you feel if you were to blame for drowning out humanity,
Joe?"
Joe stood up, and his body was shaking.
"Tell me, Joe," Bairn said quietly. "Why have you kept yourself from
eating with the rest of the guys? Why is it when you come here you're
always smelling of antiseptic?"
There were tears in Joe's brown eyes when he faced Bairn.
"Okay, John, what shall I do?"
"There's not much harm done yet? Arlie says that in the first stages,
it's only communicable by contact. But once it gets past that first
stage, it goes hog wild.
"Tell me, Joe, when did the nauseous attacks first come?"