He had lost all sense of right or wrong. Justice and injusticewere the same, and his only thought was, kill—kill—kill!
THE JUDAS VALLEY
By GERALD VANCE
Why did everybody step off the ship in this strange valleyand promptly drop dead? How could a well-equipped corps oftough spacemen become a field of rotting skeletons in thisquiet world of peace and contentment? It was a mystery Peterand Sherri had to solve. If they could live long enough!
Peter Wayne took theletter out of the machine,broke the seal, and examinedit curiously. It was an officialcommunication from the InterstellarExploration Service.It read:
FROM: Lieutenant General Martin Scarborough, I.E.S.
TO: Captain Peter Wayne, Preliminary Survey Corps
Report immediately tothis office for assignmentto I.E.S. Lord Nelson. Fullbriefing will be held at2200 hours, 14 April 2103.
By order of the Fleet Commandant.
It was short, brief, and tothe point. And it gave no informationwhatsoever. PeterWayne shrugged resignedly,put the letter down on hisbed, walked over to the phone,and dialed a number.
A moment later, a girl'sface appeared—blonde-haired,with high cheekbones, deepblue-green eyes, and an expressionof the lips thatintriguingly combined desirabilityand crisp militarybearing.
"Lieutenant James speaking,"she said formally. Then,as Wayne's image appearedon her screen, she grinned."Hi, Pete. What's up?"
"Listen, Sherri," Waynesaid quickly. "I'm going tohave to cancel that date wehad for tomorrow night. Ijust got my orders."
The girl laughed. "I wasjust going to call you, I got afac-sheet too. Looks asthough we won't see eachother for a while, Pete."
"What ship are you getting?"
"The Lord Nelson."
It was Wayne's turn tolaugh. "It looks as though wewill be seeing each other.That's my ship too. We cankeep our date in the briefingroom."
Her face brightened."Good! I'll see you there,then," she said. "I've got toget my gear packed."
"Okay," Wayne said. "Let'sbe on time, you know howGeneral Scarborough is."
She smiled. "Don't worry,Peter. I'll be there. So longfor now."
"Bye, Sherri." He cut theconnection, watched the girl'sface melt away into a rainbow-coloreddiamond of light,and turned away. There werea lot of things to do before hewould be ready to leaveEarth for an interstellar tourof duty.
He wondered briefly as hestarted to pack just what wasgoing on. There was usuallymuch more notice on any bigjump of this order. Somethingspecial was up, hethought, as he dragged hisduffle-bag out of the closet.
He was at the briefing roomat 2158 on the nose. The InterstellarExploration Servicedidn't much go for tardiness,but they didn't pay extra ifyou got there a half-hour early.Captain Peter Waynemade it a point of being atany appointment two minutesearly—no more, no less.
The room was starting tofill up, with men and womenWayne knew well, had workedwith on other expeditions,had lived with since he'd joinedthe IES. They looked justas puzzled as he probably did,he saw; they knew they werebeing called in on somethingbig, and in the IES big meantbig.
At precisely 2200, LieutenantGeneral Scarboroughemerged from the inner office,strode briskly up the aisle ofthe briefing room, and tookhis customary stance on theplatform in front. His facelooked stern, and