Rebels of the Red Planet | Page 7

life than the human."

"This ... child ... that brought us the wine is one of the products of your
experiments?" asked Nuwell.
"Yes. Petway's pretty representative of the children, I'm afraid. I've
been trying to determine what went wrong. It could be an inaccuracy in
dealing with the genetic structure itself, or a failure to follow exactly
the same pattern of change in moving from one cell to another in the
embryo. If I could only catch one at the single cell stage!
"None of the children has turned out as well as my first two
experiments, Brute and Adam. Both of them were born about
twenty-five years ago--terrestrial years, that is--and developed into
normal, even superior physical specimens. Unfortunately, their mental
development was retarded. Adam was the brighter of the two, and
Brute killed him tonight, shortly before your arrival."
Maya shivered.
"Somehow, it seems horrible to me, experimenting with human lives
this way," she said.
"It's being done for a good cause, Maya," said Nuwell. "Dr.
Hennessey's objective is to help man live better on Mars. After all,
there is nothing nobler than the individual's sacrifice of himself for his
fellows, whether it's voluntary or involuntary."
"But what about the mothers of these children?" asked Maya.
"The big problem is to reach them as soon as possible after
conception," said Goat, misinterpreting her question. "We do this by
magnetic detectors, which report instantly the conjunction of the
positive and negative. The surgery is performed, as quickly as possible,
utilizing the suspended animation technique which is being developed
toward interstellar travel."
"I wasn't asking about the technical aspects," said Maya. "What I want
to know is, what sort of mothers will permit you to experiment this way
on their unborn children, especially seeing the results you've already

obtained?"
Goat started to answer, but Nuwell forestalled him.
"There are some things that are none of your business, darling," he said.
"The terrestrial government sent you here on a specific assignment, and
I don't think you should inquire into matters which are classified as
secret by the local government, which don't have anything to do with
that assignment. Now, Dr. Hennessey, just what sort of survival
qualities have you been able to develop in these experiments?"
"There's no witchcraft involved," retorted Goat, with a sardonic
grimace.
"I haven't accused you," said Nuwell quickly.
"No, but I keep up with events, even out here, well enough to know that
you're the Mars City government's chief nemesis where there's any
suspicion of extrasensory perception. I doubt that you chose to make
this trip yourself without reason, Mr. Eli."
"It's merely a routine inspection," murmured Nuwell.
Goat indicated one of his charts, showing a diagram of genes and
chromosomes in different colors.
"This is my original chart," he said. "I copied it from one belonging to
the Martians many years ago, and my genetic alteration of Brute and
Adam were based on it. But I must have miscopied it, or else the
Martians didn't have the objective I thought they did in it, because I
could find no alteration of genes affecting lung capacity or oxygen
utilization. My own subsequent charts, on which later experiments
were based, are alterations of this."
"But just what is your objective, and how well have you succeeded?"
persisted Nuwell.
"Ability to survive under Martian conditions."

"I know. This is stated in all previous inspection reports. I want
something more specific."
"Why, ability to survive in an almost oxygen-free atmosphere, of
course. As well as can be determined, the Martians do this by deriving
oxygen from surface solids and storing it in their humps under
compression, very much like an oxygen tank.
"I've succeeded to some degree with my children. All of them can go
an hour or two without breathing. What I don't understand is that no
capacities like that were included in the genetic changes on Adam and
Brute, and yet they've gradually developed an ability to do much better.
Both of them were out on the desert the entire day today without
oxygen."
Nuwell was silent for a moment, tapping the tips of his fingers together,
apparently in deep thought. Then he said:
"Maya, I think we've reached the point where you had better retire to
your room and let us to talk privately. You can question Dr. Hennessey
in the morning about any attempts the rebels may have made to contact
him."
Maya obeyed silently, rather glad to get away and think things over
alone. When she had come to Mars as an agent of the Earth government,
it had not occurred to her that there would be areas of information from
which the local government would bar her. She recognized that such a
prohibition was perfectly valid, but she was a little offended,
nevertheless.
Her room