THE policeman who had been with Augustine when he had collapsed had worn gloves and had only touched his clothing. The interns in the ambulance, the nurses and doctors at the hospital had followed normal aseptic procedures in that everyone in contact with the patient had worn skin-gloves, a transparent flexible plastic which was sprayed on and dissolved off in an antiseptic solution vibrated with bacteria-destroying ultrasonic and irradiated with ultra violet. The doctors conducting the autopsy had worn the regulation cover-skins. It was, as Jelks said, the most fantastic good luck.
“If anyone else had touched him or attended to him we’d have been in real trouble.” His face on the videophone screen was expressive. “As it is I’ve got three nurses, the ambulance staff, the cop, two doctors
