Needler

by Randall Garrett

NEEDLER

BY RANDALL GARRETT

Illustrated by Emsh

"The principal difficulty in the case ... lay in the fact of there being too much evidence. What was vital was over-laid and hidden by what was irrelevant."--Sherlock Holmes

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Astounding Science Fiction June 1957.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

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They just didn't give a damn. The first load of survivors brought back after the Battle of Leymon's Star had been short-circuited somewhere, and they didn't give two hoots whether they lived or died.

The same thing happened to the crew of the GSS Bedevin after the skirmish in the Great Rift. The Bedevin was found drifting along, out of control, after having demolished an enemy vessel with a blast of the new aJ guns.

It was a case of "the operation was a success, but the doctor died." Or might as well have.

The crewmen of the fighting ships were in a state of semicatatonia.