, but the Med Ship
still reeked of wood-smoke smells.

"Let's check on this thing!" snapped Calhoun. "Murgatroyd!"

* * * * *

Murgatroyd came timidly to the door of his cubbyhole. He blinked
imploringly at Calhoun. At a repeated command he came unhappily to his
master. Calhoun petted him. Then he opened the chest in which a
container held living scavengers which writhed and swam and seemed to
seethe. He took out that container. He took off the lid.

Murgatroyd backed away. His expression was ludicrous. There was no
question but that his nose was grievously offended. Calhoun turned to
the grid operator. He extended the sample of scavengers. The grid man
clenched his teeth and took it. Then his face worked. He thrust it
back into Calhoun's hand.

"It's--horrible!" he said thickly. "Horrible!" Then his jaw dropped.
"I'm not a para! Not ... a para--" Then he said fiercely. "We've got
to get this thing started! We've got to start curing paras--"

"Who," said Calhoun, "will be ashamed of what they remember. We can't
get co-operation form them! And we can't get co-operation from the
government! The men who were the government are paras and they've
given their authority to Dr. Lett. You don't think he'll abdicate, do
you? Especially when it's realized that he was the man who developed
the strain of scavengers that secrete this modified butyl mercaptan
that turns men into paras!"

Calhoun grinned almost hysterically.

"Maybe it was an accident. Maybe he found himself the first para and
was completely astonished. But he couldn't be alone in what he knew
was--degradation. He wanted others with him in that ghastly state. He
got them. Then he didn't want anybody not to be like himself.... We
can't get help from him!"

Exultantly, he flipped switches to show on vision screens what went on
in the world outside the ship. He turned on all the receivers that
could pick up sounds and broadcasts. Voices came in:

"_There's fighting everywhere! Normals won't accept paras among them!
Paras won't leave normals alone.... They touch them; breathe on
them--and laugh! There's fighting--_" The notion that the para state
was contagious was still cherished by paras. It was to be preferred to
the notion that they were possessed by devils. But there were some who
gloried in the more dramatic opinion. There were screamings on the
air, suddenly, and a man's voice panting: "_Send police here fast! The
paras ha