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Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930
·
Various
58
"So--Earth
wins,
Nathaniel
Lee,"
whispered
Axelson
hoarsely.
"I
am
dying.
I
know
it.
It
is
the
same
dreaded
disease
that
came
to
the
Moon
at
the
time
of
my
father's
landing
there.
Three-fourths
of
the
Moon
animals
died.
It
is
mortal.
The
lungs
burn
away.
"My
father
told
me
that
on
Earth
it
is
not
mortal.
He
called
it
'cold'--but
I
am
burning
hot."
Then
only
did
Nat
understand,
and
the
irony
of
it
made
him
catch
his
breath
and
grit
his
teeth
to
check
his
hysterical
laughter.
The
Black
Caesar,
the
terror
of
Earth,
was
dying
of
a
common
cold
which
he
himself
had
given
him.
The
coryza
germ,
almost
harmless
on
Earth,
among
a
population
habituated
to
it
for
countless
generations,
had
assumed
the
potency
of
a
plague
here,
where
no
colds
had
ever
been
known--among
the
Moon
men,
and
even
among
the
guards,
after
their
lifetime
in
the
germless
climate
of
Eros.
"I've
failed,
Nathaniel
Lee,"
came
the
Black
Caesar's
voice.
"And
yet
that
hardly
troubles
me.
There
is
something
more
that
I
do
not
understand.
She
is
a
creature
like
ourselves--with
will
and
reason.
She
is
not
like
the
Moon
women.
She
told
me
that
she
did
not
wish
to
be
queen
of
the
Earth
because
she
did
not
love
me.
I
do
not
understand.
And
so--I
am
glad
to
go."
A
gasp
came
from
Axelson's
throat
as
he
raised
his
head
and
tried
to
speak,
but
the
death-rattle
was
already
in
his
throat.
A
slight
struggle,
and
the
massive
form
upon
the
couch
was
nothing
but
inanimate
clay.
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