Three to Conquer

14. More Than Canine

The dog proved to be a black Labrador retriever, imprisoned in a heavy cage apparently commandeered from a circus or from some nearby zoo. The cage had a steel floor and heavy steel bars on all sides and across the top, also a sliding mid-gate by means of which the animal could be pinned in one half of its quarters while the other half was being cleaned, its food and water bowls replenished.

Noticing the approaching pair, the dog turned to face them, pawed at the bars, wagged its tail vigorously and emitted a pleading whine. A perfect picture of canine friendliness, it concentrated its attention particularly upon Harper, subjecting him to all the appeal of a pet-shop pup begging to be bought.

“Any comments?” inquired Leeming.

“If appearance is anything to go by, you injected it. with nothing more dangerous than water.”

“Within the limits of that condition, I agree; but can we place faith in appearances? You’ve said that you can recognize an actuality. Well, this dog is actual enough. So what is your diagnosis?”

“I can’t give one,” said Harper. “My power functions only with respect to a two-legged creature very much like myself, but less hairy.”

“H’m!” Leeming eyed the Labrador, which now was standing on its hind legs, forepaws against bars, and openly inviting Harper to take it out for a walk. He frowned deeply, said, “Notice how all its attention is on you, and how it is ignoring me?”

“That’s natural. I’d prefer me to you if I were a dog.”

“I’m not joking,” Leeming assured him. “I’m deadly serious.”

“Why?”

“We shot a dose of virus into that animal at noon yesterday. We did it in that cage, got out fast and watched results from this side the bars.”

“And what happened?”

“It behaved normally at first, licked the spot where we’d inserted the needle, wandered aimlessly around and threw us those looks of bewildered reproof which some dogs give when they think they’ve been kicked for nothing. After four minutes it collapsed and had a violent fit, during which its body jerked spasmodically, it foamed at the mouth and gave muffled yelps.”

“After that?”

“It recovered with surprising swiftness,” Leeming detailed. “It went ten times around the cage, examining every part of it and obviously seeking a means of escape. Finding none, it snarled at Balir, who happened to be standing nearest. It gave a display of ferocious hatred that had to be seen to be believed. Water or not, it certainly wasn’t the same dog as before.”

“It seems mild enough now,” Harper pointed out.

“I know; and that is highly significant, I believe. It raged against Balir, then it turned its fury upon me. For a couple of hours it gave a display of maniac enmity toward anyone and everyone who came in sight. The emotional reaction to entrapment, see?”

“Could be.”

“But after those couple of hours it changed character with the swift dexterity of an actor changing costumes between acts. The hatred vanished. The dog did its darnedest to ingratiate itself with Balir and put on so good a performance that he began to pity it. Knowing or sensing the effect, it redoubled its efforts to gain his friendship. However, Balir is a scientist. He refused to let himself be influenced by irrational sentiment; therefore he did not respond.”

“What did it do next?”

“It transferred its cajoling to me. I’ll admit without shame that I had moments of feeling sorry for it—until I remembered that my sympathy could be expressed in only two ways—namely, to get within reach and fondle it, which might be most dangerous, or to release it, which could well be downright disastrous. So I remained hard.”

“Is that all?”

“No. Early this morning it tried all its best tricks on Jim Calthorpe, who tends to its feeding. Calthorpe had been warned to use the slide-gate and keep out of the dog’s reach no matter what. He refused to respond to its overtures. Now it is picking on you in your turn.” Leeming glanced at the other and asked, “What do you deduce from such behavior?”

“Constructive thought,” Harper replied. “It has satisfied itself that escape is impossible without help; its only chance is to find a weakling who’ll co-operate. So it is testing the various candidates in order of arrival.”

“That’s what I suspect. But if we are correct, if it is being purposefully selective in its appeals, isn’t that just a bit too clever for the average dog?”

“I don’t know; I really don’t know. As I told you before, I am no expert on dogs. All I do know is that some dogs are alleged to be mighty smart, and quite capable of coping with moderately complicated problems. ‘Almost human’ is the conventional description for them.”

“Yes, but the exceptionally intelligent dog has developed its mental status almost from birth. It hasn’t acquired it all of a sudden, like being fitted with a new collar.”

“Well?”

“This particular animal was as average a specimen as you could find in a long day’s march. Now it’s better than average. It has jumped from Dog I.Q. 60 to Dog I.Q. 100 or more. That is somewhat alarming in view of the circumstances. It points to a conclusion we hoped you could confirm. We are going to have a difficult time proving it without your help.”

“There’s a satisfactory way out,” Harper suggested, “if anyone has the guts to take it.”

“And what may that be?”

“Knock off that hound, recover the hell-juice from it, re-squirt it into a human being and I can tell you positively whether or not you have tracked down and isolated the real cause of all the trouble.”

“Unthinkable!” Leeming said.

“Don’t talk silly,” Harper reproved. “How can it be unthinkable, seeing that I’ve thought of it?”

“You know what I mean. We cannot subject a fellow being to such a drastic test.”

“It’s a bit late for science to start taking count of moral consideration; the time for that was fifty years ago. Today, one more dirty trick will pass unnoticed. The public has become used to the idea that we’ve all degenerated into a bunch of guinea pigs.”

Leeming let that pass with no more than a disapproving frown, then said, “It might be all right if we could get a volunteer. But where are we going to find one? Would you offer your body for this?”

“I would not. And even if I were daft enough to submit, I would not be permitted to do so. Uncle Sam thinks me too precious to lose.” He tapped Leeming’s chest with a heavy forefinger. “And that fact alone suggests where you may get your experimental carcass—namely, from among those who aren’t precious, those whose loss won’t matter a hoot to anyone, even to themselves.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are thugs in the death house waiting to be hanged, electrocuted or gassed. Offer any of them the one-in-a-thou-sand chance to gain release and watch him jump at it. Tell him that you want him to take a squirt. If he goes under-well, he’s facing death as it is. But if you can cure him, he’ll be given a pardon and freed. Maybe Old Whiskers will find him a government job as a reward for public service.”

“I have no authority to make such an extrajudicial bargain.”

“Somebody has; find that somebody and keep kicking his pants until he wakes up.”

“I doubt whether anyone less than the President could do it, and even he’d have to stretch his powers to the limit.”

“All right; then chivvy the President. If you don’t go after him, somebody else will—and for a more formidable purpose.”

“Look, Wade, talk comes cheap. Performance is a different matter altogether. Have you ever tried moving the top brass?”

“Yes.”

“How far did you get?” Leeming asked with interest.

“I reached General Conway and got him on the hop good and proper. Come to think of it, he’s the boy to ask. Tell him exactly what’s happened here, what I’ve said to you, what you want to do about it. Tell him your test-subject must be a man and nothing less than a man. Dump the problem right in his lap and tell him that, so far as you’re concerned, he’s stuck with it. He won’t nurse it any longer than he can help, you can bet on that!”

Harper studied the dog again while letting Leeming think it over. The Labrador whined, made pawing motions between the bars. It looked every inch a dog and nothing else save a dog. But that was no proof for or against. Elsewhere slunk creatures who bore equally close resemblance to people, but who were not people. The number one question: was this animal still a mere dog or had it become in effect a weredog?

He tried to listen to its mind as it begged his attention and he heard precisely nothing. A blank, a complete blank. His natural range of reception just wasn’t wide enough to pick up emanations from other than his own species. He switched from listening and probed at it sharply, fiercely, in a manner that had brought immediate reaction from hiders in human shape. It had no effect upon the dog, which continued its fawning, with obvious unconsciousness of his mental stabbing.

Leeming broke into his meditation by saying, “I don’t like it and I don’t think I’ll get away with it. Nevertheless I am willing to bait Conway, providing you’re standing by to back me up. He might listen to you when he won’t to me.”

“You don’t know until you’ve tried.”

“Let’s go to my office,” suggested Leeming. “You get hold of him, then I’ll see what can be done.”

Harper called Jameson first, said, “I’m at the Biological Research Laboratories, as probably you are aware, you having had something to do with bringing me here. I’m going to put through a call to General Conway. Doctor Leeming wants a brief talk with him.”

“Then why get on to me?” Jameson asked.

“Because I’ve tried to reach Conway before, remember? Neither Leeming nor I have the time or patience to be bollixed around by every underling in Washington. It’s up to you to tell them to shove my call straight through.”

“See here, Harper—”

“Shut up!” Harper ordered. “You’ve used me plenty. Now I’m using you. Get busy and do as you’re told.”

He slammed the instrument onto its rack, sat down in a handy chair, scowled at the phone and snorted.

Leeming said apprehensively, “Who is this Jameson?”

“A big cheese in the F.B.I.”

“And you tell him where he gets off?”

“It’s the first time,” said Harper, “and from what I know of him, it’ll also be the last.”

His call went through, a youthful face appeared in his instrument’s visiscreen.

“My name is Wade Harper,” he told the face. “I want to speak to General Conway and it’s urgent.”

“Just a moment, please.” The face went away, was replaced by another, older, more officious.

“About what do you wish to talk to the General?” inquired the newcomer.

“What’s it to you?” demanded Harper toughly. “Go straight to Connie and find out, once and for all, whether or not he will condescend to have a word with me.”

“I’m afraid I cannot do that unless I can first brief him on the subject matter of your—” The face ceased talking, glanced sidewise, said hurriedly, “Pardon me a moment,” and disappeared. A few seconds later it returned, wearing a startled expression. “Hold on, Mr. Harper. We’re switching you through as speedily as possible.”

Harper grinned at the now-empty screen, which registered eccentric patterns as the line was switched through intercom-boards, then cleared and held General Conway’s austere features.

“What is it, Mr. Harper?”

Giving a short, succinct explanation, Harper handed the phone to Leeming, who detailed the current state of affairs, ending by expressing his need for a human subject and the hope that Conway could do something about it.

“I disapprove such a tactic,” declared Conway flatly.

Leeming reddened. “In that case. General, we can make no more progress. We are balked.”

“Nonsense, man! I appreciate your desire and the ingenuity of what you suggest. But I cannot spend valuable hours seeking some legal means of making use of a condemned felon, when such a move is superfluous and unnecessary.”

“I make the request only because I deem it necessary,” Leeming pointed out.

“You are wrong. You have been sent four bodies of known victims. Two more have become available today, and you will receive them shortly. With the spread of this peril, and the increase in number of people affected, it becomes inevitable that before long we shall succeed in capturing one alive. What more could you want than that?”

Leeming sighed and persisted patiently, “A live victim would help but not conclusively. The most incontrovertible proof of a cause is a demonstration that it creates the characteristic effect. I cannot demonstrate contagion with the aid a subject already riddled with it.”

“Perhaps not,” agreed Conway. “But such a subject, being more communicative than a dog, can be compelled to identify the cause himself. It should not be beyond your wits to devise a suitable technique for enforcing what might be termed self-betrayal.”

“Offhand, I can think of only one way to achieve that,” Leeming said. “And the trouble with it is that it’s likely to be long and tedious, and it will mean considerable working in the dark.”

“What method?”

“Assuming that this virus is the true cause—which is still a matter of doubt—we must seek an effective antigen. Our proof will then rest upon our ability to cure the live specimen. If we fail—”

“A cure has got to be found,” asserted Conway. “Somehow, anyhow. The only alternative is long-term, systematic extermination of all victims on an eventual scale that none dare contemplate. Indeed, we could well be faced by a majority problem far too large for a minority to overcome; in which case the minority is doomed, and humanity along with it.”

“And you think that the life of one hardened criminal is too high a price to pay for freedom from that fate?” asked Leeming shrewdly.

“I think nothing of the sort,” Conway contradicted. “I would unhesitatingly sacrifice the entire populations of our prisons had I the power to do so, and were I convinced that it was our only hope. But I have not the power and I am not convinced of the necessity.”

“Let me speak to him,” urged Harper, seeing Leeming’s look of despair. He got the phone, gazed belligerently at the face in the screen knowing that it was now looking at his own. “General Conway, you say you lack the power and you’re not persuaded?”

“That is correct,” Conway agreed.

“The President, if consulted, might think differently. He has the necessary authority—or, if not, can obtain it. Aren’t you usurping his right to make a decision about this?”

“Usurping?” Conway repeated the word as if it were the ultimate in insults. He gathered himself together with visible effort, spoke in tones of restraint, “The President cannot work more than twenty-four hours per day. Therefore he deputes certain of his powers and responsibilities. I am now exercising some of the authority so assigned.”

“By virtue of which you have his ear, while others have not,” Harper riposted. “So how about putting the matter to him?”

“No.”

“All right. I am no longer asking you to do so; I am telling you to do so.”

“Telling me?” The other registered incredulity.

“That’s what I said: I am telling you. Refusal to co-operate is a game at which two can play. You can take Leeming’s proposition to the President or count me out of this fracas, as from now.”

“You cannot do that.”

I can.

“You know full well that we’re dependent upon you to make positive identification where opportunity arises. You cannot possibly stand idly by, knowing what’s happening, watching it happen and doing nothing.”

“I can; and what’s more, I shall. You aren’t the only one who can make like a mule.”

“This is outrageous!” General Conway exploded.

“It’s mutinous, too,” indorsed Harper, showing indecent relish. “It’s barefaced treachery. You could have me shot for it. Try it and see what good it does you. I’d be even less useful dead than dumb.”

Conway breathed heavily while his face showed exasperation, then he said, “Against my better judgment, I will take this up with the President and do my best to persuade him. I promise to try to get the required action with a minimum of delay, but I offer no guarantee of success.”

“Your word is good enough for me,” said Harper. “You’re an officer and a gentleman. And in our antagonistic ways we’re both working for the same end, aren’t we?”

He got a grunt of irritation for that, put down the phone, eyed Leeming. “He’ll do it; he’s the sort who sticks to a promise like grim death once it’s been forced out of him.” He consulted his wristwatch. “Before I go, there’s one thing I’d like to know, if you can tell me.”

“What’s that?”

“How does this progressive disease become epidemic? How is it passed from one to another?”

“The same way as the dog got it. That girl Joyce Whittingham had received an injection in the upper arm, presumably with the blood of a victim.”

“We can’t say for certain that the dog has it.”

“No, but we do know the Whittingham girl had it; and we know she’d received an injection. So had two others. The fourth corpse had a plaster-covered cut that told the same story. My guess is that their reactions were the same as the dog’s—a few minutes’ confusion, collapse into a brief fit, rapid recovery.”

“Well, the fact that contact alone evidently is not sufficient helps a little,” mused Harper. “It means a prospect has to be grabbed arid held long enough to receive and get over a shot, eh?”

Leeming nodded and went on, “If this virus is not the actual cause, it’s a definite by-product; and, if it’s not the cause, well"—he spread his hands expressively—"we’re at a complete loss for any other.”

“Anything else you can tell me about it?”

“Yes. It locates itself in the brain and spinal column; that is its natural habitat. The rest is theory and you can have it for what it’s worth. I believe that the virus increases until it overflows into the bloodstream and thereby creates an urge to transmit the surplus, to seek another circulatory system leading to another brain and spinal column.”

“Humph!” Harper stewed that a while.

If these assumptions happened to be correct, that imprisoned dog might well be capable of creating its own rescuer and much-wanted ally by getting in one good snap at an unwary leg, or by licking a hand on which was a minute cut. The presence of virus in its saliva could open the gates to freedom and a wholesale conversion of human forms.

“If you want my advice,” he said to Leeming, “you’d do well to put an end to that dog before it puts an end to you.”

“Don’t worry. We’re used to coping with such matters here. Nobody goes near enough to be spat upon, much less touched.”

“You know your own business, and it’s high time I resumed tending to mine. I am going home, back to the trap that Conway hopes will catch a live one.” Harper let go a harsh chuckle. “If I’m dead out of luck, they may bring you a struggling zombie that will prove to be me.”

“What d’you mean?” inquired Leeming, wide-eyed.

“Never mind. Let’s find the escort, if I return without them, there’ll be the deuce to pay.”