Badge of Infamy | Page 8

slapped Feldman on the back. "Ya ain't bad for a greenie, Dan. We
all get six-day passes on Mars. Hit the sack now so you won't waste
time sleeping then. We'll hear it when the ship berths."
Feldman didn't hear it, but the others did. He felt Ben shaking his
shoulder, trying to drag him out of the sack. "Grab your junk, Dan."
Ben picked up Feldman's nearly empty bag and tossed it toward him,

before his eyes were fully open. He grabbed for it and missed. He
grabbed again, with Ben's laughter in his ears. The bag hit the wall and
fell open, spilling its contents.
Feldman began gathering it up, but the chief was no longer laughing. A
big hand grabbed up the space ticket suddenly, and there was no
friendliness now on Ben's face.
"Art Billing's card!" Ben told the other tubemen. "Five trips I made
with Art. He was saving his money, going to buy a farm on Mars. Five
trips and one more to go before he had enough. Now you show up with
his ticket!"
The tubemen moved forward toward Feldman. There was no indecision.
To them, apparently, trial had been held and sentence passed.
"Wait a minute," Feldman began. "Billings died of--"
A fist snaked past his raised hand and connected with his jaw. He
bounced off a wall. A wrench sailed toward him, glanced off his arm,
and ripped at his muscles. Another heavy fist struck.
Abruptly, Ben's voice cut through their yells. "Hold it!" He shoved
through the group, tossing men backwards. "Stow it! We can take care
of him later. Right now, this is captain's business. You fools want to
lose your leave?" He indicated two of the others. "You two bring him
along--and keep him quiet!"
The two grabbed Feldman's arms and dragged him along as the chief
began pulling his way forward through the tubes up towards the control
section of the ship. Feldman took a quick glance at their faces and
made no effort to resist; they obviously would have enjoyed any chance
to subdue him.
They were stopped twice by minor officers, then sent on. They finally
found the captain near the exit lock, apparently assisting the passengers
to leave. Most of them went on into the shuttle, but Chris Ryan
remained behind as the captain listened to Ben's report and inspected

the false ticket.
Finally the captain turned to Feldman. "You. What's your name?"
Chris' eyes were squarely on Feldman, cold and furious. "He was
Doctor Daniel Feldman, Captain Marker," she stated.
Feldman stood paralyzed. He'd been unwilling to face Chris. He wanted
to avoid all the past. But the idea that she would denounce him had
never entered his head. There was no Medical rule involved. She knew
that as a pariah he was forbidden to board a passenger ship, of course.
But she'd been his wife once!
Marker bowed slightly to her. "Thank you, Dr. Ryan. I should take this
criminal back to Earth in chains, I suppose. But he's hardly worth the
freightage. You men. Want to take him down to Mars and ground him
there?"
Ben grinned and touched his forelock. "Thank you, sir. We'd enjoy
that."
"Good. His pay reverts to the ship's fund. That's all, men."
Feldman started to protest, but a fist lashed savagely against his mouth.
He made no other protests as they dragged him into the crew shuttle
that took off for Southport. He avoided their eyes and sat hunched over.
It was Ben who finally broke the silence.
"What happened to Art's money? He had a pile on him."
"Go to hell!"
"Give, I said!" Ben twisted his arm back toward his shoulder, applying
increasing pressure.
"A doctor took it for his fee when Billings died of space-stomach.
Damn you, I couldn't help him!"

Ben looked at the others. "Med Lobby fee, eh? All the market will take.
Umm. It could be, maybe." He shrugged. "Okay, reasonable doubt. We
won't kill you, bo. Not quite, we won't."
The shuttle landed and Ben handed out the little helmets and aspirators
that made life possible in Mars' thin air. Outside, the tubemen took
turns holding Feldman and beating him while the passengers
disembarked from their shuttle. As he slumped into unconsciousness,
he had a picture of Chris Ryan's frozen face as she moved steadily
toward the port station.

IV
Martian
It was night when Feldman came to, and the temperature was dropping
rapidly. He struggled to sit up through a fog of pain. Somewhere in his
bag, he should have an anodyne tablet that would kill any ache. He
finally found the pill and swallowed it, fumbling with the aspirator lip
opening.
The aspirator meant life to him now, he suddenly realized. He twisted
to stare at the tiny