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Del Rey, Lester, 1915-1993

"Badge of Infamy"

Up ship!"
If she had her own worries about the shuttle, she didn't show it. Chris
had never been afraid to do what she felt she should. The pilot stared
at her doubtfully and finally turned back to his controls, still
muttering.
The shuttle lifted sluggishly, but there was no great difficulty. Doc
could see that there was even some fuel remaining when they slipped into
the tube at the orbital station. Chris went out, and other guards came
in to free him.
"So long, Dr. Feldman," the pilot called softly as they led him out.
Then the guards shoved him through the airlock into the station. Fifteen
minutes later he was locked into one of the cabins of the _Iroquois_,
with all his possessions stacked beside him.
He grinned wryly. As an honest worker on the _Navaho_ he'd been treated
like an animal. Now, as a human fiend, he was installed in a luxury
cabin of the finest ship of the fleet, with constant spin to give a
feeling of weight and more room than the entire tube crew had known.
He roamed the cabin until he found a little collapsible table. He set
the electron microscope up on that and plugged it in. It seemed a shame
that good equipment should be wasted along with his life. He wondered
if they would really throw it out into space with him. Probably they
would.
He pushed a button on the call board over the table and asked for the
steward.


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