Part 4 (1/2)

”Well, I dunno,” he said. ”If the baby was really normal--”

”It was normal, all right. Only dead, that's all.”

Tom stood up. ”Okay, Sergeant Spencer. Let me think it over, and I'll give you a buzz before the end of the week. All right?”

”Anything you say, Chief.”

In the morning, Tom Blacker went storming into John Andrusco's plush office.

”Now look, Mr. Andrusco. I don't mind slanting a story a little far. But this Spencer story of yours is nothing but a hoax.”

Andrusco looked hurt. ”Did he tell you that? How do you like that nerve?”

”What do you mean?”

”Why, that story's as genuine as gold. We've known about the freak birth for a long time. Cosmic rays, you know. Those men on that reconnaissance flight really got bombarded.”

Tom wasn't sure of himself. ”You mean, it's true?”

”Of course it is! As a matter of fact, we've got a photograph of the dead baby, right after it was delivered. The doctor who attended Mrs.

Spencer took it without their knowledge, as a medical curiosity. He sold it to us several years ago. We've never used it before, because we knew that the Spencers would just deny it. Now that Walt's willing to cooperate ...”

”Can I see the photo?”

”Why, certainly.” He opened the top drawer and handed a glossy print across the desk. Tom looked at it, and winced.

”Scales!” he said.

”Like a fish,” Andrusco said sadly. ”Pretty sad, isn't it?” He looked out of the window and sighed cavernously. ”It's a menacing world up there....”

The rest of the day was wasted. Tom Blacker's mind wasn't functioning right.

He told Livia about it at lunch.

Livia Cord continued eating, chewing delicately on her food without flexing a muscle or wincing an eyebrow.

On the Third of April, the story of Sergeant Walter Spencer's first-born monster broke in newspapers, magazines, and telecasts across the country. It was a five-year-old story, but it carried too much significance for the s.p.a.ce-minded present to be ignored.

Two days later, Sergeant Spencer, 32, and his wife, Laura, 30, were found dead of asphyxiation in their new home in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The cause of death was listed as suicide.

Tom Blacker didn't hear the news until a day after it happened. He was in Was.h.i.+ngton, setting up a series of meetings with members of a House group investigating s.p.a.ce flight expenditures. When he returned by 'copter that evening, he found Police Commissioner Joe Stinson waiting for him in Tom's own favorite chair.

The square, heavy-jowled face was strangely calm.

”Long time no see,” he said mildly. ”You've been a busy man lately, Mr.

Blacker.”