CHAIN REACTION
By BOYD ELLANBY
Illustrated by DOKTOR
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Galaxy Science Fiction September 1956.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Would this be the last poker game—with all
life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
MacPherson shuffled the cards over and over again. His hands werealmost steady.
"Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked.
His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from theUniversity said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
"Today?" he said. "Today, the sky's the limit."
MacPherson rested the deck on the table and watched as Rothman stoodup to look through the barred window at the glittering Arizona desert.Rothman had got thinner during his months of confinement; his shoulderswere bony beneath the gray hospital robe and his balding head lookedlike a skull.
"Are you going to play?" asked MacPherson. "Or is poker too childish anamusement for a mathematician?"
Rothman turned his back to the window. "Oh, I'll play. When three oldfriends from the Project suddenly turn up for a visit, even a madmanwill string along."
Shuffling the cards again, MacPherson wished the other men would saysomething; it wasn't fair of them to make him carry the conversation.Professor Avery, who had cut his physics classes in order to join themorning's party, sat in glum silence. His plump face was pale, andbehind thick-lensed spectacles which enlarged his eyes grotesquely, heblinked as he watched the flickering cards. Dr. Neill, from PhysicalChemistry, was tapping his toe against the table leg, watching Rothman,who stood at the window, waiting.
"But we can't have much of a game with only four people," said Rothman."We ought to have a fifth."
"Maybe we can find someone." MacPherson walked to the locked steel doorand rattled the rectangular lattice set in at shoulder height, put hismouth to the metal bars and called out.
"Hey, Joe!"
An attendant in white uniform shuffled into the corridor of closeddoors, carrying a tray with one hand and scratching his head with theother.
"How about joining us for a game of poker?"
Joe shook his head and grinned. "Not me, Professor! I start buddyingaround with the loonies, I lose my job."
"But we're not inmates!"
"Maybe not, but Dr. Rothman is."
"Doesn't prove I'm crazy, Joe," said Rothman. "Conversely, not beinginmates doesn't prove these men are sane."
"It's a fact you don't look any crazier to me than a lot ofprofessors," confessed Joe. "I don't know. All I know is, I'mnot crazy enough to break the rules and lose my job. Besides, youlong-hairs wouldn't stand a chance at poker with me."
Still grinning, he shuffled out of sight down the hall.
MacPherson sighed and went back to the table. "Well, we'll have to getalong with just the four of us."
"There's always the unseen guest," said Rothman, "but you won't need todeal him a hand. He already holds all the cards."
Neill looked up. "Stop hamming and sit down. Quit making like a maniac.It's not even a good act."
"Okay." Rothman drew up a chair. "Now what was said about limiting thebets?"
"Why bother setting a limit?" said