The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eyes Have It, by James McKimmey

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Title: The Eyes Have It

Author: James McKimmey

Illustrator: Paul Orban

Release Date: November 9, 2009 [EBook #30438]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration]

_Daylight sometimes hides secrets that darkness will reveal--the
Martian's glowing eyes, for instance. But darkness has other
dangers...._

THE EYES HAVE IT

By James McKimmey, Jr.

Illustrated by Paul Orban

Joseph Heidel looked slowly around the dinner table at the five men,
hiding his examination by a thin screen of smoke from his cigar. He was
a large man with thick blond-gray hair cut close to his head. In three
more months he would be fifty-two, but his face and body had the vital
look of a man fifteen years younger. He was the President of the
Superior Council, and he had been in that post--the highest post on the
occupied planet of Mars--four of the six years he had lived here. As his
eyes flicked from one face to another his fingers unconsciously tapped
the table, making a sound like a miniature drum roll.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Five top officials, selected, tested,
screened on Earth to form the nucleus of governmental rule on Mars.

Heidel's bright narrow eyes flicked, his fingers drummed. Which one? Who
was the imposter, the ringer? Who was the Martian?

Sadler's dry voice cut through the silence: "This is not just an
ordinary meeting then, Mr. President?"

Heidel's cigar came up and was clamped between his teeth. He stared into
Sadler's eyes. "No, Sadler, it isn't. This is a very special meeting."
He grinned around the cigar. "This is where we take the clothes off the
sheep and find the wolf."

Heidel watched the five faces. Sadler, Meehan, Locke, Forbes, Clarke.
One of them. Which one?

"I'm a little thick tonight," said Harry Locke. "I didn't follow what
you meant."

"No, no, of course not," Heidel said, still grinning. "I'll explain it."
He could feel himself aliv