reat that his face seemed almost purple, he suddenly yawned
uncontrollably.

Calhoun blinked and stared. The man behind the glass wall yawned again
and again. He was helpless to stop it. If such a thing could be, he
was in a paroxysm of yawning, though his eyes glared and he beat his
fists together. The muscles controlling the act of yawning worked
independently of the rage that should have made yawning impossible.
And he was ashamed, and he was infuriated, and he yawned more
violently than seemed possible.

"A man's been known to dislocate his jaw, yawning like that," said
Calhoun detachedly.

A bland voice spoke behind him.

"But if this man's jaw is dislocated, no one can help him. He is a
para. We cannot join him."

* * * * *

Calhoun turned. He found himself regarded with unctuous condescension
by a man wearing glittering thick eyeglasses--and a man's eyes have to
be very bad if he can't wear contacts--and a uniform with a caduceus
at his collar. He was plump. He was beaming. He was the only man
Calhoun had so far seen on this planet whose expression was neither
despair nor baffled hate and fury.

"You are Med Service," the beaming man observed zestfully. "Of the
Interstellar Medical Service, to which all problems of public health
may be referred! But here we have a real problem for you! A contagious
madness! A transmissible delusion! An epidemic of insanity! A plague
of the unspeakable!"

The Minister for Health said uneasily:

"This is Dr. Lett. He was the greatest of our physicians. Now he is
nearly the last."

"Agreed," said the bland man, as zestfully as before. "But now the
Interstellar Medical Service sends someone before whom I should bow!
Someone whose knowledge and experience and training is so infinitely
greater than mine that I become abashed! I am timid! I am hesitant to
offer an opinion before a Med Service man!"

It was not unprecedented for an eminent doctor to resent the implied
existence of greater skill or knowledge than his own. But this man
was not only resentful. He was derisive.

"I came here," said Calhoun politely, "on what I expected to be a
strictly routine visit. But I'm told there's a very grave public
health situation here. I'd like to offer any help I can give."

"Grave!" Dr. Lett laughed scornfully. "It is hopeless for poor
planetary doctors like myself! But not, of course, for a Med Ship
man!"

Calhoun shook his head. This man would