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    Deepfreeze
    Deepfreeze
    Deepfreeze
    Ebook60 pages42 minutes

    Deepfreeze

    By Robert Donald Locke

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 25, 2013
    Deepfreeze

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      Book preview

      Deepfreeze - Robert Donald Locke

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of Deepfreeze, by Robert Donald Locke

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: Deepfreeze

      Author: Robert Donald Locke

      Release Date: May 26, 2010 [EBook #32531]

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEEPFREEZE ***

      Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online

      Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

      Transcriber's Note:

      This etext was produced from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy January 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

      DEEPFREEZE

      By

      Robert Donald Locke

      Life and the future belong to the strong—so Dollard laughed as he fled Earth and Mankind's death agony. But the last laugh was yet to come....

      dwin Dollard's nervous stubby fingers spilled three precious drops of his fifth Scotch highball, as he veered his head away from the horrors on the telescreen. He was in time to observe Garth enter by the paneled tunnel door.

      Two more hours—and the ship will be ready, Garth announced. The men still know nothing. His thin lips cracked into a forced smile. I slipped them the poison at noon mess. There'll be no tales out of those greaseballs.

      Dollard's pudgy features relaxed. Just you and I, Garth ... to survive. The others—stupid sheep—let them die! Lust spread his heavy cheeks into a wide grin. As for women, there'll be time enough for them ... on Venus.

      I know, said Garth slowly. Plague-untouched women. It'll be like being reborn again. His pained somber eyes lit up. It's right good we understand each other....

      Just see that we continue understanding one another, Edwin Dollard snapped. I'm still the boss.

      The last of America's industrial tycoons refocussed his attention on the world telecasts. Since breakfast, he had sat glued to the news while a battery of video announcers reported from central strongholds on the progress of the bacterial epidemic that already had swept the Atlantic seaboard.

      Any late news? Garth asked, over Dollard's shoulder.

      For your information, I picked up a flash from Denver. Just before you came in—

      Bad, eh?

      You said it, Garth. A thousand new cases. Some think the Asiatics got another two or three missiles through the Canadian radar barrier. More likely, the germs hitch-hiked westward on human carriers, gangs of them streaming out of the eastern states. The mobs are like vermin; you can't hold 'em back. They sneak through the quarantine at a hundred points.

      They're people, aren't they? said Garth, quietly.

      People? They're no more people than the loutish mechs you just did away with today.

      Under your orders, Garth pointed out.

      But it had to be done. Let's not be squeamish children—

      Yes, so it did. You're safe enough.

      You and I both, Dollard completed. As long as we're together, we're both safe....

      Dollard gripped his hands together and glanced nervously about the timbered walls of his High Sierra lodge, as if to assure himself that this carefully guarded retreat would protect him from the grisly crawling death that was demolishing his invincible country. Even in the presence of his most trusted hireling, Garth, who had been executive officer of Dollard's vast combine, the millionaire

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