III
They came to the turnoff for a town called Tenochitlan, some fortymiles from Maya City. Calhoun swung off the highway to go through it.
Whoever had chosen the name Maya for this planet had been interestedin the legends of Yucatan, back on Earth. There were many instances ofsuch hobbies in a Med Ship's list of ports of call. Calhoun touchedground regularly on planets that had been named for countries and townswhen men first roamed the stars, and nostalgically christened theirdiscoveries with names suggested by homesickness. There was a Tralee,and a Dorset, and an Eire. Colonists not infrequently took theirworld's given name as a pattern and chose related names for seas andpeninsulas and mountain chains. On Texia the landing-grid rose near atown called Corral and the principal meat-packing settlement was namedRoundup.
Whatever the name Tenochitlan would have suggested, though, was deniedby the town itself. It was small, with a pleasing local type ofarchitecture. There were shops and some factories, and many strictlyprivate homes, some clustered close together and others in the middlesof considerable gardens. In those gardens also there was wilt and decayamong the cannibal plants. There was no grass, because the plantsprevented it, but now the motile plants themselves were dead. Exceptfor the one class of killed growing things, however, vegetation wasluxuriant.
But the little city was deserted. Its streets were empty, its housesuntenanted. Some houses were apparently locked up here, though, andCalhoun saw three or four shops whose stock in trade had been coveredover before the owners departed. He guessed that either this town hadbeen warned earlier than the spaceport city, or else they knew they hadtime to get in motion before the highways were filled with the carsfrom the west.
Allison looked at the houses with keen, evaluating eyes. He did notseem to notice the absence of people. When Calhoun swung back on thegreat road beyond the little city, Allison regarded the endless fieldsof dark-green plants with much the same sort of interest.
”Interesting,” he said abruptly when Tenochitlan fell behind anddwindled to a speck. ”Very interesting! I'm interested in land. Realproperty, that's my business. I've a land-owning corporation on ThanetThree. I've some holdings on Dorset, too, and elsewhere. It justoccurred to me: what's all this land and the cities worth, with thepeople all run away?”
”What,” asked Calhoun, ”are the people worth who've run?”
Allison paid no attention. He looked shrewd. Thoughtful.
”I came here to buy land,” he said. ”I'd arranged to buy some hundredsof square miles. I'd buy more if the price were right. But--as thingsare, it looks like the price of land ought to go down quite a bit.Quite a bit!”
”It depends,” said Calhoun, ”on whether there's anybody left alive tosell it to you, and what sort of thing has happened.”
Allison looked at him sharply.
”Ridiculous!” he said authoritatively. ”There's no question of theirbeing alive!”
”They thought there might be,” observed Calhoun. ”That's why they ranaway. They hoped they'd be safe where they ran to. I hope they are.”
Allison ignored the comment. His eyes remained intent and shrewd. Hewas not bewildered by the flight of the people of Maya. His mind wasbusy with contemplation of that flight from the standpoint of a man ofbusiness.
* * * * *
The car went racing onward. The endless fields of dark green rushedpast to the rear. The highway was deserted, just three strips ofsurfaced road, mathematically straight, going on to the horizon. Theywent on by tens and scores of miles, each strip wide enough to allowfour ground-cars to run side by side. The highway was intended toallow all the produce of all these fields to be taken to market or aprocessing plant at the highest possible speed and in any imaginablequantity. The same roads had allowed the cities to be desertedinstantly the warning--whatever the warning was--arrived.
Fifty miles beyond Tenochitlan there was a mile-long strip of shedscontaining agricultural machinery for crop culture and trucks to carrythe crops to market. There was no sign of life about the machinery, norin a further hour's run to westward.
Then there was a city visible to the left. But it was not servedby this particular highway, but another. There was no sign of anymovement in its streets. It moved along the horizon to the left andrear. Presently it disappeared.
Half an hour later still, Murgatroyd said:
”_Chee!_”
He stirred uneasily. A moment later he said ”_Chee!_” again.
Calhoun turned his eyes from the road. Murgatroyd looked unhappy.Calhoun ran his hand over the _tormal's_ furry body. Murgatroyd pressedagainst him. The car raced on. Murgatroyd whimpered a little. Calhoun'shand felt the little animal's muscles tense sharply, and then relax,and after a little tense again. Murgatroyd said almost hysterically:
”_Chee-chee-chee-chee!_”
Calhoun stopped the car, but Murgatroyd did not seem to be relieved.Allison said impatiently, ”What's the matter?”
”That's what I'm trying to find out,” said Calhoun.
He felt Murgatroyd's pulse. The role of Murgatroyd in the Med Ship_Esclipus Twenty_ was not only that of charming companion in the long,isolated runs in overdrive. Murgatroyd was a part of the Med Service.His tribe had been discovered on a planet in the Deneb sector, andmen had made pets of them, to the high satisfaction of the _tormals_.Presently it was discovered that veterinarians never had _tormals_for patients. They were invariably in robustuous good health. Theycontracted no infections from other animals; they shared no infectionswith anybody else. The Med Service discovered that _tormals_ possesseda dynamic immunity to germ and bacteria-caused diseases. Evenviruses injected into their bloodstreams only provoked an immediate,overwhelming development of antibodies, so that _tormals_ couldn't begiven any known disease. Which was of infinite value to the Med Service.
Now every Med Ship that could be supplied with a _tormal_ carried asmall, affectionate, whiskered member of the tribe. Men liked them,and they adored men. And when, as sometimes happened, by mutation orthe simple enmity of nature, a new kind of infection appeared in humansociety--why--_tormals_ defeated it. They produced specific antibodiesto destroy it. Men analyzed the antibodies and synthesized them, andthey were available to all the humans who needed them. So a great manymillions of humans stayed alive, because _tormals_ were pleasant littleanimals with a precious genetic gift of good health.