Transcriber's Note:
This eBook was produced from Astounding Science Fiction May 1959, pp.92-111. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.copyright on this publication was renewed.
OPERATION
HAYSTACK
BY FRANK HERBERT
Illustrated by van Dongen
It's hard to ferret out a gang of fanatics;it would, obviously, be even harder to spota genetic line of dedicated men. But the problemOrne had was one step tougher than that!
hen the Investigation& Adjustment scoutcruiser landed on Marakit carried a manthe doctors had nohope of saving. He was alive onlybecause he was in a womblike crechepod that had taken over most of hisvital functions.
The man's name was Lewis Orne.He had been a blocky, heavy-muscledredhead with slightly off-center featuresand the hard flesh of a heavyplanet native. Even in the placid reposeof near death there was somethingclownish about his appearance.His burned, ungent-covered facelooked made up for some bizarreshow.
Marak is the League capital, andthe I-A medical center there is probablythe best in the galaxy, but it acceptedthe creche pod and Orne moreas a curiosity than anything else. Theman had lost one eye, three fingersof his left hand and part of his hair,suffered a broken jaw and various internalinjuries. He had been in terminalshock for more than ninety hours.
Umbo Stetson, Orne's sectionchief, went back into his cruiser's"office" after a hospital flitter tookpod and patient. There was an addeddroop to Stetson's shoulders that accentuatedhis usual slouching stance.His overlarge features were drawninto ridges of sorrow. A generalstraggling, trampish look about himwas not helped by patched blue fatigues.
The doctor's words still rang inStetson's ears: "This patient's vitaltone is too low to permit operativereplacement of damaged organs.He'll live for a while because of thepod, but—" And the doctor hadshrugged.
Stetson slumped into his deskchair, looked out the open port besidehim. Some four hundred metersbelow, the scurrying beetlelike activityof the I-A's main field sent updiscordant roaring and clattering.Two rows of other scout cruiserswere parked in line with Stetson'sport—gleaming red and black needles.He stared at them without reallyseeing them.
It always happens on some "routine"assignment, he thought. Nothingbut a slight suspicion aboutHeleb: the fact that only women heldhigh office. One simple, unexplainedfact ... and I lose my best agent!
He sighed, turned to his desk, begancomposing the report:
"The militant core on the PlanetHeleb has been eliminated. Occupationforce on the ground. No furtherdanger to Galactic peace expectedfrom this source. Reason for operation:Rediscovery & Re-education—aftertwo years o BU KİTABI OKUMAK İÇİN ÜYE OLUN VEYA GİRİŞ YAPIN!
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