Several doctors and a couple of secret policemen contracted the disease, and, of course, died. That was fair enough, but a far more untoward incident came near marring the Dictator's pleasure in his experiment.
Chaber, the Popo chief, crossing the country on one of his frequent incognito tours, happened to be caught in the test city's railway station by the travel interdict. It took him more than an hour to convince the distracted officials in charge of enforcing the ban that a man in his position was above such things, so that he and his aides were still there when the virus-carrying planes did their job.
The Dictator, receiving belated word, was furious. A flying squad of Honor Guardsmen intercepted Chaber's private train, ran it onto a siding and held the police chief and his staff there in something very like arrest. True, the Dictator sent a message to assure Chaber that the quarantine was a purely temporary result of someone else's mistake, and that matters would soon be cleared up....
For Chaber they never were. He died eight days later in the coma of RM4 infection. Most of his aides preceded or followed him by a day or so; and when the last radioed reports indicated that the contagion was spreading to the Guards, the Dictator gave horrified orders and the plague-infested train was set on fire by incendiary bombs.
About the same time, past one o'clock in the morning, Dr. Euge was dragged out of bed and haled unceremoniously before the Dictator.
The scientist listened dispassionately to his first news of Chaber's misfortune and to excited demands for an explanation. He was more at peace with himself now than he had been for long; he was prepared to lie coldly and directly, to ensure the unfolding of events to their logical conclusion. But no lie seemed to be needed yet.
"I would suggest," said Euge calmly, "that you impound the deceased's papers and personal effects, and subject them to rigorous examination. You may find the reason for his death—about which I know no more than you."
Euge cooled his heels under house arrest for twenty-four hours before he was summoned again to the Dictator's presence. The leader was himself again; he greeted Euge with that warm smile which had made more impressionable men fall at his feet in adoration.
"You were right, doctor. The man was, if not an actual traitor, at least a potential one; he was slyly subverting the loyalty of his immediate subordinates, with the idea of making himself paramount in the government. His death becomes a striking demonstration of your virus's value." A new shadow passed over the Dictator's face as he recalled how he had trusted Chaber. "I think," he mused aloud, "we will prepare RM4 injections for all the more strategically placed personnel of the Political Police and—yes, the Guards too. Eventually, it would be a good idea to blanket the whole country with the virus." The Dictator brightened again. "For the rest, the results of the large-scale test were highly gratifying."
"Indeed," said Euge without surprise.