[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Astounding ScienceFiction June 1955. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence thatthe U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor typographicalerrors have been corrected without note.]
CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE
Somebody was going to have to be left behind
... andwho it would be was perfectly obvious....
BY J. FRANCIS MCCOMAS
Illustrated by Freas
Warden Halloran smiled slightly."You expect to have criminals onMars, then?" he asked. "Is that whyyou want me?"
"Of course we don't, sir!" snappedthe lieutenant general. His name wasKnox. "We need men of your administrativeability—"
"Pardon me, general," Lansinginterposed smoothly, "I rather thinkwe'd better give the warden a ...a more detailed picture, shall we say?We have been rather abrupt, youknow."
"I'd be grateful if you would,"Halloran said.
He watched the lanky civilian asLansing puffed jerkily on his cigar.A long man, with a shock of blackhair tumbling over a high, narrowforehead, Lansing had introducedhimself as chairman of the project'scoördinating committee ... whateverthat was.
"Go ahead," grunted Knox. "Butmake it fast, doctor."
Lansing smiled at the warden,carefully placed his cigar in the ashtray before him and said, "We'vebeen working on the ships nightand day. Both the dust itself and itssecondary effects are getter closer tous all the time. We've been so intenton the job—it's really been a raceagainst time!—that only yesterdayone of my young men rememberedthe Mountain State Penitentiary waswell within our sphere of control."
"The country—what's left of it—hasbeen split up into regions," thegeneral said. "So many ships to eachregion."
"So," Lansing went on, "learningabout you meant there was anotherbatch of passengers to round up.And when I was told the wardenwas yourself—I know something ofyour career, Mr. Halloran—I wasdelighted. Frankly," he grinned atKnox, "we're long on military andscientific brass and short on peoplewho can manage other people."
"I see." Halloran pressed a buzzeron his desk. "I think some of myassociates ought to be in on this discussion."
"Discussion?" barked Knox. "Isthere anything to discuss? We simplywant you out of here in anhour—"
"Please, general!" the wardensaid quietly.
If the gray-clad man who enteredthe office at that moment heard thegeneral's outburst, he gave no sign.He stood stiffly in front of the warden'sbig desk, a little to one side ofthe two visitors, and said, "Yes sir,Mr. Halloran?"
"Hello, Joe. Know where the captainis?"
"First afternoon inspection, sir."He cocked an eye at the clock on thewall behind Halloran. "Ought to bein the laundry about now."
The warden scribbled a few wordson a small square of paper. "Askhim to come here at once, please.On your way, please stop in atthe hospital and ask Dr. Slade tocome along, too." He pushed thepaper across the desk to the inmate."There's your pass."
"Yes sir. Anything else, warden?"He stood, a small, square figure inneat gray shirt and pants, seeminglyoblivious to the ill-concealed staresof the two visitors.
Halloran thought a moment, thensaid, "Yes ... I'd like to see FatherNelson and Rabbi Goldsmid, too."
"Uh, Father Nelson's up on theRow, sir. With Bert Doyle."
"Then we'll not bother him, ofcourse. Just the others."
"Yes, sir. On the double."
Lansing