the wide clear space which
once had been a park for the city and the site of the government
building of Tallien Three. A little distance away, children played
gaily. But there were women who watched them with deep anxiety. This
particular space contained all the people considered certainly free of
the para syndrome. Tall building surrounded the area which once had
been tranquil and open to all the citizens of the planet. But now
those buildings were converted into walls to shut out all but the
chosen--and the chosen were no better off for having been someone's
choice.

"The capital building's over yonder," said the Minister, at once
urgently and affrightedly and persuasively. "It's only a very short
walk! Just yonder!"

"I still," said Calhoun, "don't want to go there." He showed the
Minister for Health the blaster he'd aimed at Dr. Lett only minutes
ago. "This is a blaster," he said gently. "It's adjusted for low power
so that it doesn't necessarily burn or kill. It's the adjustment used
by police in case of riot. With luck, it only stuns. I used it on Dr.
Lett," he added unemotionally. "He's a para. Did you know? The vaccine
he's been giving to certain high officials to protect them against
becoming para--it satisfies the monstrous appetite of para without
requiring them to eat scavengers. But it also produces that appetite.
In fact, it's one of the ways by which paras are made."

The Minister for Health stared at Calhoun. His face went literally
gray. He tried to speak, and could not.

Calhoun added again, as unemotionally as before:

"I left Dr. Lett unconscious in his laboratory, knocked out by a
low-power blaster bolt. He knows he's a para. The President is a para,
but with a supply of 'vaccine' he can deny it to himself. By the look
on your face you've just found out you can't deny it to yourself any
longer. You're a para, too."

The Minister for Health made an inarticulate sound. He literally wrung
his hands.

"So," said Calhoun, "I want to get back to my ship and see what I can
do with the 'vaccine' I took from Dr. Lett. Do you help me, or don't
you?"

The Minister for Health seemed to have shriveled inside his garments.
He wrung his hands again. Then a ground car braked to a stop five
yards away. Two uniformed men jumped out. The first of them jerked at
his blaster in its holster on his hip.

"That's the _tormal_!" he snapped. "This's the man, all right!"

Calhoun pulled the trigger of his blaste