AFTER TALLIS WAS WELL inside the air lock, MacMaine whispered to the young captain, “As you can see, the general has got a rather bad cold. He’ll want to remain in his cabin until he’s over it. See that anti-coryza shots are sent up from the dispensary as soon as we are out of the Solar System. Now, let’s go; we have less than a minute till take-off.”
MacMaine went up the ramp with the captain scrambling up behind him.
Tallis was just stepping into the commander’s cabin as the two men entered the air lock. MacMaine didn’t see him again until the ship was twelve minutes on her way—nearly five billion miles from Earth and still accelerating.
He identified himself at the door and Tallis opened it cautiously.
“I brought your anti-coryza shot, sir,” he said. In a small ship like the Manila,
