Unpopular Science

Chapter 40

First came the Emperor.

“We should move him to a hospital bed.”

“That will do him no good. You have done every foolish test your charlatan doctors could think of.”

“It would be better than laying him out on the floor.”

“Be gone, Emperor,” said Chiun.

Next came the prince.

“We know how the proton device functions, anyway. The labs are working on it.”

This mattered not at all to Chiun.

“We may be able to repulse it. You know, turn it off. It would require some sort of counteractive device.”

The prince left, eventually.

Next came the woman.

“I am capable of caring for him,” Chiun snapped.

“It cannot hurt for another to care, as well,” said Sarah Slate, taking the hard, limp hand in her own as she lowered into an identical cross-legged position. She looked at Remo and said nothing. She left hours later, but she came back the next day, and the next.

Chiun took rice, he took water, but he seemed to fade.

And all around, the world seemed to fade with him.