Captives of the Flame

al printed sheet that was circulated among the upper families of the city. On the mainland it was a fairly accurate brig

rince K

eclare

y, the 27B Communications Sector became hopelessly snarled. This resulted in the shipment of a boatload of

for them at the end of the harbor. Later, as the island of Toron slipped across the water, Let me

e he'd gone with his father in the morning to the pier. "T

bid accompanied by a letter which explained (with completely fraudulent statistics) how much cheaper it would be to use imported fish rather than those from the aquariums. Then they commandeered a group of ruffians who broke into the house of old Koshar's personal secretary, who was still sleepin

e was blood running down his trimmed, black beard; and he had given the information they wanted-in

Arkor changed ships. Coming from the yacht in bare feet and rags gave them an incongruous appearance.

awl) clenched his jaw (unshaven; he had been called to the office a half an hour early over the sunken cargo boats), nodded his head, and issued a few non-official directives himself. Twenty minutes later, Koshar Synthetic Food Concerns was officially given the government contract to supply the armies of Toromon with food. Because the two rival bidders, the import merchants, had cea

f an adjacent office building to accommodate the new corps of engineers, mathematicians, and physicists that the army had just enlisted. Apparently riots ha

City Dispersal Squad. Behind the line of uniformed men, masses of people were pushing and calling out. "And what's tha

. "There's tons of it all over the street

said. "It'll clear the streets of

been poisoned. Just before it was dumped, it was soaked with buckets

city-wide announcement goes out telling about the poisoned fish. Call General Medical, fi

cal, got the antidote, which was expensive, comp

as been eaten, go directly to the General Medical building (address followed). Symptoms of barbitide poisoning: intense cramps about two hours after ingestion, followed by nausea, fever, and swollen lymph nodes. Death results in twenty minutes after onset of cramps under normal conditions. Foods wi

hone call from the Communications Engineer saying that 27B had been hopelessly snarled all morning. In fact so had 26B, 25B. In further f

etary to the Communications Engineer called and said, "Major Tomar, I'm sorry, I just got back from my break and I didn't see your message

lowed. "If you don't put that through and qui

orry, sir, but ... well, look. I'll give it directl

tting back?" T

I don't

s auth

only those directly conce

mar said, a

note to seven of the fourteen generals in the ministry when the Communicat

n tons of the stuff a

poiso

ut over every available piece of city-wide communicati

t I guess this takes priority. Oh, that explains some of the me

ed Tomar af

owed to deli

y n

ot author

et it right now a

ere sir. It's from the chief

n, had been trampled to death by an estimated two and a half thousand hung

hrough the city. The Communications Engineer also added that while they'd been talking, a memorandum had come through that

e six-story structure, all flooded with deep red light that came from the phosphor-rods that stuck up from the pumps. Light toward the blue end of the spectrum disturbed the fish, who had to be visible at all times, to be moved, or to be checked for any sickness or deformity. In their tr

an assistant feeder reported to the infirmary, complaining of general g

aps the proper attention would have been paid to him had not a few minutes later a woman fallen from a c

t lay at the end of a jagged plastic tube. In the spread water,

sions while crossing one of the catwalks. By the time the doctor got back to the infirmary, the assist

always drank two quarts of milk for lunch; he lasted long enough to be gotten onto the shuttle and back to General Medical on Toron, where he died six minutes after admittance, one hour and seventeen minutes after the onset of the cramps. That was the first cas

the citizens of Toron containing a description of the effects of barbitide poisoning, antidote, and instructions to come to the General Medical building, along with a c

s from, but balled it up in disgust and flung it into a wastepaper basket and mumbled something about unauthorized messages. Had the janitor bothered to

men near the beginning of the rush of patients, gained access to the special receiving room. They managed to get a look at all the women who arrived. One of the patients who was wheeled by them was a particularly stri

nodded, then went to the doctor who was admin

eed at least forty-eight hours rest and careful observation after injectio

scared, then left the patient he was examining and went to the bed of the new girl. Quickly he gave her

Then the second hoisted Alter from the co

Prince was seated on his bed in his pajama pants with his heel against the side board; standing by the window was a white-haired girl with a leather necklace strung with

be an immense enlargement of a human pupil; mistily discernible through the iris were the dottings and tiny

acrobats for the season, a school diploma, copies of receipts covering a three-year period of gymnastic instruction, a copy of a medical bill for the correction of a sprained h

lls of the room. She lifted up the heavy, jeweled scepter and said, "Bring her in." She touched the two buns of white hair

the middle of the room, about

blocks, which came to just below her shoulders, spread her arms over the

heavy jeweled rod cradled in her arm. "Only we know something about you. We know that you know something whi

were just under the proper height by half an inch so th

eal with the barbitide-you don't feel wel

hook he

take my son?" t

, then opened them wi

for Alter to see. "My son took these pictures of the two of you together. They're ver

going to t

w anything,"

s. There are dozens of hidden switches. Somehow the alarms con

ok her he

u're tired and we want to get you back to the hospital as

le

weet girl. You'r

owed, and t

Really, you don't have to be afraid to answ

r no

ifted it from Alter's neck. "An acrobat's body must be like a fine jewel, fine and strong. You must be very proud of it." Again she paused and tilted her head.

he ground, the shells making an almo

lowed the neckla

" With one hand the Queen drew back her robes until her shoe was revealed. Then she moved he

scream. Because the Queen had brought down the scepter, too, the full arc of its swing, onto Alter's strapped forearm. Then she brought it down again. The

ike silence, the Queen sai

So what she told them didn't do much good when they had time to check it. Later, unc

poison case?"

six hours. When he unwrapped the blanket, he recognized the girl. When he unwrapped it further, the breath hissed bet

en. In the freezing chest he found the remains of a baked fish, so he got a sharp knife from over the sink, and cut a piece. Then the door opened and the barmaid came in. She was nearly seve

nd jumped, though n

man asked. "You want to be carried

mine that I made up yesterday, and around noon, suddenly everybody was buying the stuff. They wanted something for cramps, and I guess my Super Aqueo

"It's got to be the fish that's causing it. Everybody who ate it has been carried off to General Medical with cramps. Lots of them died, too.

still hungr

e cheese and fru

t's safe," t

Tel wanted to know, loo

said, "you've been upstairs sick

nt it that morning through Communication Sector 27B. They were near the shore, one of the few spots away from the fishing villages and the farm communes where the great forest had crept down to the edge of the water itself. A tiny port, occasionally used as an embarkation for the families of emigrants going to join peo

shaking his

ot started, and then reached forward absently to crumple a sheet of tin foil he had left on the instrument p

left. He clutched his stomach as the plane banked suddenly to the right. In the observat

n its usual place, and so missed. Forty-one seconds later, the plane