A large part of the was out by the half-disk of Weald, as it in the sunshine. It had ice-caps at its poles, and there were seas, and the look of land which had that of and which was so in control. The Med Ship free, and Calhoun all the to man.
There was relative the ship. Maril Calhoun in a of indecision. The four still slept, still hand and upon the control-room floor. Murgatroyd them, and Maril, and Calhoun in turn, and his small and helplessly.
"They can't have what I'm looking for!" Calhoun as his search had no result. "They can't. It would be too for them to have done it!"
Murgatroyd said "Chee!" in a voice.
"But where the did they put them?" Calhoun. "A would be ridiculous! They—" Then he in disgust. "Oh! Of course! Now, where's the landing-grid?"
He for minutes, the position of the Wealdian landing-grid—mapped in the Sector Directory—against the look of and on the half-disk so visible outside. He what he wanted. He put on the ship's solar-system drive.
"I wish," he to Maril, "I wish I think the time! And it's so obvious! If you want to put something out in space, and not have it with traffic, in what of and at what will you put it?"
Maril did not answer.
"Obviously," said Calhoun, "you'll put it as as possible from the landing-pattern of ships in to the space-port. You'll put it on the opposite of the planet. And you'll want it to out of the way, where can know it is at any time of the day or night without having to anything. So you'll put it out in so it will around Weald in one day, neither more or less, and you'll put it above the equator. And then it will above one spot on the planet, a hundred and eighty away from the landing-grid and directly over the equator."
He for a moment.
"Which means forty-two thousand miles high, give or take a hundred, and—here! And I was for it in a close-in orbit!"
He to himself. He waited while the solar-system drive pushed the Med Ship a of the way around the below. The line and the planet's a complete circle. Then Calhoun to the again, and once more, and course, and presently a noise satisfaction.
Again presently he instrument-control and directly out of a port, the solar-system drive with great care. Murgatroyd said depressedly;
"Chee!"
"Stop worrying," Calhoun. "We haven't been challenged, and there is a at work, just to make sure that nobody into what we're looking for. It's a great help, we do want to bump,—gently."
Stars across the port out of which he looked. Something dark appeared,—and then lines and exact curvings. Even Maril, and as she was, of something larger than the Med Ship, in space. She stared. The Med Ship very cautiously. She saw another large object. A third. A fourth. There to be of them.
They were space-ships, by with Aesclipus Twenty. They as the Med Ship did. They did not drive. They were not in formation. They were not at from each other. They did not point in the same direction. They in like derelicts.
Calhoun his small ship with care. Presently there came the of and then a sound. The out the vision-port stationary, but still unbelievable. The Med Ship was to a surface of metal.
Calhoun relaxed. He opened a wall-panel and out a suit. He to it on.
"Things move smoothly," he commented. "We weren't challenged. So it's that we were spotted. Our friends on the ought to to come to shortly. And I'm going to out now I'm a hero or in sure-enough trouble!"
Maril said drearily;
"I don't know what you've done, except—"
Calhoun at her, in the act of the over his shoulders.
"Isn't it self-evident?" he demanded. "I've been lessons to these characters. I didn't do it to help them germ-cultures on Weald! I them here! Don't you see the point? These are space-ships. They're in around Weald. They're not and they're not controlled. In fact, they're nothing but sky-riding bins!"
He to the complete. He his arms into the and of the suit. He the air-tanks over his and them to the suit.
"I'll be back," he said. "I with good news. I've to be hopeful, though, these Wealdians are very practical men. They have all prepared and tidy. I I'll these ships with stores of air and fuel—maybe food—so that if Weald should manage to make a for the out here in them, they'd only have to out crews."
He the space-helmet from its and put it on. He it, reading the air-pressure, power-storage, and other data from the visible through above his eye-level. He a space-rope about himself, speaking through the helmet's opened face-plate.
"If our friends should wake up I back," he added, "please them. I'd to be marooned."
He into the with the of space-rope over one vacuum-suited arm. The lock door closed him A little later Maril the lock open. Then soundlessness.
Murgatroyd a little. Maril shivered. Calhoun had gone out of the ship to nothingness. He'd said that what he was looking for—and what he'd found—was forty-two thousand miles from Weald. One forty-two thousand miles, where one couldn't a light-year. Calhoun was walking on the plates of a space-ship which among of its fellows, all and abandoned. He was able to walk on the nearest of magnetic-soled shoes. He his life to them and to a space-rope which after him out the Med Ship's airlock.
Time passed. A clock in that of five to the second which has been the of since time immemorial. Very small and came from the tape, from in the ship. They were traffic-sounds, recorded on a world no one how many light-years distant, and nobody when. There were as of voices, too to words, but a of life and activity to a ship.
Maril herself for something else. One of the four snored, and stirred, and slept again. Murgatroyd about unhappily, and to the control-room floor, and then paused for of any place to go or thing to do. He sat and half-heartedly to his whiskers. Maril stirred.
Murgatroyd looked at her hopefully.
"Chee?" he asked shrilly.
She her head. It a to act as if Murgatroyd were a being.
"N-no," she said unsteadily. "Not yet."
More time passed. An long time. Then there was the of clankings. It repeated. Then, abruptly, there were in the airlock. They continued. They were noises.
The door closed. The door opened. Dense white came out of it. There was motion. Calhoun the out of the lock. He objects which had been weightless, but were in the ship's gravity-field. There were two space-suits and a of parcels. He spread them out, the face-plate, and said briskly;
"This is cold! Turn a on it, will you Maril?"
He to work his way out of his vacuum-suit.
"Item," he said. "The ships are and provisioned. A practical tribe, the Wealdians! The ships are to take off as soon as they're up inside. A half-degree sun doesn't to keep a ship warm, when the of the is near zero Kelvin. Here, point the like this."
He the radiant-heat dispensers. The where their played. But the metal space-suits and steamed,—and the steam inches. They were so and cold that they the air about them as a liquid, which reëvaporated to make fog, which up and and was replaced.
"Item," said Calhoun again, his arms out of the vacuum-suit sleeves. "The are nearly standard. Our sleeping friends will be able to them to Dara without trouble, provided only that nobody comes out here to us they leave."
He the last of the space-suit, out of its legs.
"And," he wrily, "I an supply of ship-provisions for concerned, but that I'm to that they'll me if I eat them while Dara's still starving."
Maril said;
"But—there isn't any for Dara! No hope!"
He at her.
"What do you think we're here for?"
He set to work to his four students to consciousness. It was not a difficult task. The dosage, mixed in the coffee he had them earlier, was a light one. Calhoun took the of them first, but presently four hot-eyed men at him.
"I'm calling," said Calhoun, a in his hand, "I'm calling for volunteers. There's a on Dara. There've been crop-surpluses on Weald. On Dara, the government every of food. On Weald, the government has been up to keep the price up. To save costs, it's the into out-of-date space-ships it once used to over Dara to keep it out of space when there was another there. Those ships have been put out in orbit, where we're on to one of them. It's with a of grain. I've space-suits from it, I've on the in its interior, and I've set its unit for a to Dara. Now I'm calling for to take a of to where it's needed. Do I any volunteers?"
He got four. Not immediately, they were that he'd it to out their original plan, and now offered something much to make up for it. They raged. But a of meant that people who must otherwise die might live.
Ultimately, truculently, one and then another agreed.
"Good!" said Calhoun. "Now, how many of you the alone? I've got one grain-ship up. There are of others around us. Every one of you can take a ship and a to Dara, if you have the nerve?"
The changed. Suddenly they for the he offered them. They were still uncomfortable. He'd them and them until they and and proud. Then he'd their ears back. But if they returned to Dara with four enemy ships and of food with which to the famine....
There was work to be done first, of course. Only one ship was so up. Three more had to be entered, in space-suits, and each had to have its so air it, and at least part of the had to be up to temperature for use on the journey. Then the unit had to be and set for the length of that a direct to Dara would mean, and Calhoun had to make sure again that each of the four identify Dara's sun under all and for it with the high precision, going into and after breakout. When all that was accomplished, Calhoun might that they'd arrive. But it wasn't a certainty.
Still, presently his four students hands with him, with the of men much than their teacher. They wouldn't speak on again, their might be up on Weald.
Of for this action to be successful, it had to be performed with the of sneak-thieves.
What a long time passed. Then one ship slowly upon some axis. It and forth, a point of aim. A second in its place. A third put on the of solar-system drive to clear of the rest. The fourth ...
One ship vanished. It had gone into overdrive, for Dara at many times the speed of light. Another. Two more.
That was all. The of the in emptiness. And Calhoun over in his mind the lessons he'd in such a small number of days. If the four ships Dara, their would be heroes. Calhoun had presented them with that over their objection. But they would in it, if they Dara.
Maril looked at him with very eyes.
"Now what?" she asked.
"We around," said Calhoun, "to see if comes up from Weald to out what's happened. It's always possible to up a of when a ship goes into overdrive. Usually it doesn't a thing. Nobody pays any attention. But if somebody comes out here—"
"What?"
"It'll be regrettable," said Calhoun. He was very tired. "It'll any of our and some more food—like mice. If they out what we've done they'll us to try it again. They might set to fight. Or they might land the of these ships."
"If I'd what you were about," said Maril, "I'd have joined in the lessons. I have a ship."
"You wouldn't have wanted to," said Calhoun. He yawned. "You wouldn't want to be a heroine."
"Why?"
"Korvan," said Calhoun. He again. "I've asked about him. He's been trying very to well of his blueskins. All he's is a way to painlessly. He wouldn't with a girl who'd helped make unnecessary. He'd you politely, but he'd you. And you know it."
She her head, but it was not easy to tell she the of Korvan—whom Calhoun had met—or that he was more to her than anything else. The last was what Calhoun implied.
"You don't to be trying to be a hero!" she protested.
"I'd it," Calhoun, "but I have a job to do. It's got to be done. It's much more than being admired."
"You take another ship back," she told him. "It would be more to Dara than the Med Ship is! And then would that you'd planned everything."
"Ah!" said Calhoun. "But you've no idea how much this ship to Dara!"
He seated himself at the controls. He over his ears. He listened. Very, very carefully, he all the wave-lengths and wave-forms he in use on Weald. There was no mention of the of of of aloft. There was no mention of the ships at all. But there was of mention of Dara, and blueskins, and of the political now going on to see which political party promise the most complete protection against blueskins.
After a full hour of it, Calhoun off his and the Med Ship to an exact, at the sun around which Dara rolled. He said;
"Overdrive coming, Murgatroyd!"
Murgatroyd grabbed. The out and the and the Med Ship a of all its own.
Calhoun again.
"Now there's nothing to be done for a day or two," he said wearily, "and I'm to why people sleep all they can, on Dara. It's one way not to hungry."
Maril said tensely;
"You're going back? After they took the ship from you?"
"The job's not finished," he explained. "Not the famine's ended, and the famine's a second-order effect. If there were no such thing as a blueskin, there'd be no famine. Food be for. We've got to do something to make sure there are no more famines."
She looked at him oddly.
"It would be desirable," she said with irony. "But you can't do it."
"Not today, no," he admitted. Then he said longingly, "I'm about to catch up on some sleep."
Maril rose and into the other cabin. He settled into the chair and asleep.
For very many ship-hours, then, there was no action or activity or of any in the Med Ship. Very, very away, light-years and light years apart, four of toward the famine-stricken of blueskins. Each great ship had a single semi-skilled for pilot and crew. Thousands of millions of with to their in a of which a very small had been and by humanity. The was now to be in on of hundreds of worlds, but the Med Ship the least of all possible things. It travel star-systems and star-clusters, but it was not yet of the of on which the arose. And any two the of the Med Ship much time. Which would be for someone with no work to do or no in himself, or herself.
On the second ship-day Calhoun and at the little laboratory. Maril him in a of silence. Murgatroyd slept much of the time, with his across his nose.
Toward the end of the day Calhoun his task. He had a of six or seven of clear liquid as the of a long of culturing, and by microscope, and again plus final filtration. He looked at a clock and calculated time.
"Better wait until tomorrow," he observed, and put the of clear liquid in a temperature-controlled place of safe-keeping.
"What is it?" asked Maril. "What's it for?"
"It's part of a job I have on hand," said Calhoun. He considered. "How about some music?"
She looked astonished. But he set up an and into it and settled to listen. Then there was music such as she had before. Again it was a device to and between-planet voyages. To keep it from its effectiveness, Calhoun himself on music, as on other things. Calhoun for of his recordings, so that music was an event to be looked to and cherished.
When he off the of Kun Gee with tranquilizing, from the Rim School of composers, Maril him with a very indeed.
"I think I now," she said slowly, "why you don't act like other people. Toward me, for example. The way you live you what other people have to try to in ways,—making their work their vanity, and pride, and make them significant. But you can put your whole mind on your work."
He it over.
"Med Ship is designed to keep one healthy in his mind," he admitted. "It well. It all my appetites. But naturally there are instincts—"
She waited. He did not finish.
"What do you do about that work and music and such can't satisfy?"
Calhoun wrily;
"I'm with them. I have to be."
He up and her to go into the other for the night. She did.
It was after breakfast-time of the next ship-day when he got out the sample of clear liquid he'd so long to produce. "We'll see how it works," he observed. "Murgatroyd's in case of a slip-up. It's perfectly safe so long as he's and there are only the two of us."
She as he a cc under his own skin. Then she a little.
"What will it do?"
"That to be seen." He paused a moment. "You and I," he said with some dryness, "make a perfect test for anything. If you catch something from me, it will be indeed!"
She at him without comprehension.
He took his own temperature. He out the which were his orders, each of the he should give a Medical Service inspection. Weald was there. Dara wasn't. But a Med Service man has much of action, when only up the of normal Med Service. When up on neglected operations, he necessarily has much more. Calhoun over the folios.
Two hours later he took his temperature again. He looked pleased. He an entry in the ship's log. Two hours later yet he himself and looked more pleased still. He another entry in the and matter-of-factly a small quantity of blood from his own and called to Murgatroyd. Murgatroyd submitted to the very operation Calhoun out. Calhoun put away the and saw Maril at him with a look of shock.
"It doesn't him," Calhoun explained. "Right after he's there's a spot on his that has the pain-nerves desensitized. Murgatroyd's all right. That's what he's for!"
"But he's—your friend!"
"He's my assistant. I don't ask anything of him that I can do myself. But we're Med Service. And I do for him that he can't do for himself. For example, I make coffee for him."
Murgatroyd the familiar word. He said;
"Chee!"
"Very well," Calhoun. "We'll all have some."
He coffee. Murgatroyd at the cup for his little paws. Once he at the place on his which had no pain-nerves. It itched. But he was perfectly content. Murgatroyd would always be when he was near Calhoun.
Another hour by. Murgatroyd up into Calhoun's and with a air to sleep there. Calhoun him long to an out of his pocket. He to Murgatroyd's with it while Murgatroyd dozed.
"Maril," he said. "Write something for me. The time, and ninety-six, and one-twenty over ninety-four."
She obeyed, not comprehending. Half an hour later—still not to Murgatroyd—he had her another time and of figures, only different from the first. Half an hour later still, a third set. But then he put Murgatroyd down, well satisfied.
He took his own temperature. He nodded.
"Murgatroyd and I have one more to do," he told her. "Would you go in the other for a moment?"
She into the other cabin. Calhoun a sample of blood from the area on Murgatroyd's flank. Murgatroyd submitted with complete in the man. In ten minutes Calhoun had the sample, added an anticoagulant, it up thoroughly, and it to with all red and white removed. Another Med Ship man would have that Calhoun had had Murgatroyd prepare a small sample of antibody-containing serum, in case something got out of hand. It would take of two patients.
But a Med Ship man would also have that it was one of those a Med Ship man takes when using from store.
Calhoun put the sample away and called Maril and offered no explanation. She said;
"I'll lunch." She hesitated. "You some food from the Weald ship. Do you want it?"
He his head.
"I'm squeamish," he admitted. "The trouble on Dara is Med Service fault. Before my time, but still—I'll to until eats."
He her as the day on. Presently he that she was flushed. Shortly after the of Darian rations, she thirstily. He did not comment. He out cards and her a game of in which and expert use of one's of winning.
By midnight, ship-time, she'd learned the game and played it absorbedly. Calhoun was able to her without appearing to do so, and he was satisfied again. When he mentioned that the Med Ship should arrive off Dara in eight hours more, she put the cards away and into the other cabin.
Calhoun up the log. He added the notes that Maril had for him, of Murgatroyd's and blood-pressure after the of the same that produced and in himself and later—without with him or the culture—in Maril. He put a professional at the end.
"The to have its normal long in the state. It and rapidly. I .5 cc under my skin and in less than one hour my temperature was 30.8°C. An hour later it was 30.9°C. This was its peak. It returned to normal. The only other was thirst. Blood-pressure and normal. The other person in the Med Ship the same symptoms, in and complete repetition, without physical contact."
He to sleep, with Murgatroyd up in his cubbyhole.
The Med Ship out of at 1300 hours, ship time. Calhoun with the and was to the ground.
It was almost two hours later—1500 hours ship-time—when the people of Dara were by that Calhoun was publicly to be executed; immediately.
