taped voice repeated and re-repeated the call. An
incoming voice said sharply:

"_Calling Med Ship! Cut your signal! Do not acknowledge this call! Cut
your signal! Instructions will follow. But cut your signal!_"

Calhoun blinked. Of all possible responses to a landing call, orders
to stop signaling would be least likely. But after an instant he
reached over and stopped the transmission of his voice. It happened to
end halfway through a syllable.

Silence. Not quite silence, of course, because there was the taped
record of background noise which went on all the time the Med Ship was
in space. Without it, the utter absence of noise would be sepulchral.

The voice from outside said:

"_You cut off. Good! Now listen! Do not--repeat, do not!--acknowledge
this call or respond to any call from anyone else! There is a drastic
situation aground. You must not--repeat, must not--fall into the hands
of the people now occupying Government Center. Go into orbit. We will
try to seize the spaceport so you can be landed. But do not
acknowledge this call or respond to any answer from anyone else! Don't
do it! Don't do it!_"

* * * * *

There was a click, and somehow the silence was clamorous. Calhoun
rubbed his nose reflectively with his finger. Murgatroyd, bright-eyed,
immediately rubbed his nose with a tiny dark digit. Like all
_tormals_, he gloried in imitating human actions, as parrots and
parakeets imitate human speech. But suddenly a second voice called in,
with a new and strictly professional tone:

"_Calling Med Ship!_" said this second voice. "_Calling Med Ship!
Spaceport Tallien Three calling Med Ship Esclipus Twenty! For landing,
repair to co-ordinates--_"

The voice briskly gave specific instructions. It was a strictly
professional voice. It repeated the instructions with precision.

Out of sheer habit, Calhoun said, "Acknowledge." Then he added
sharply: "Hold it! I've just had an emergency call--"

The first voice interrupted stridently:

"_Cut your signal, you fool! I told you not to answer any other call!
Cut your signal!_"

The strictly professional other voice said coldly:

"_Emergency call, eh? That'll be paras. They're better organized than
we thought, if they picked up your landing request! There's an
emergency, all right! It's the devil of an emergency--it looks like
devils! But this is the spaceport. Will you come in?_"

"Naturally," said Calhoun. "What's the emerge