rocess somewhere else. Med Ships carry only one man because two
could not stand the close contact without quarreling with each other.
But Med Ships do carry _tormals_, like Murgatroyd, and a _tormal_ and
a man can get along indefinitely, like a man and a dog. It is a highly
unequal friendship, but it seems to be satisfactory to both.

Calhoun was very much annoyed with the way the Med Service had been
operated in Sector Twelve. He was one of many men at work to correct
the results of incompetence in directing Med Service in this sector.
But it is always disheartening to have to labor at making up for
somebody else's blundering, when there is so much new work that needs
to be done.

The condition shown by the landing-grid suspicions was a case in
point. Blueskins were people who inherited a splotchy skin
pigmentation from other people who'd survived a plague. Weald plainly
maintained a one-planet quarantine against them. But a quarantine is
normally an emergency measure. The Med Service should have taken over,
wiped out the need for a quarantine, and then lifted it. It hadn't
been done.

Calhoun fumed to himself.

The world of Weald Three grew brighter and brighter and became a disk.
The disk had icecaps and a reasonable proportion of land and water
surface. The ship decelerated, voices notifying observation from the
surface, and the little ship came to a stop some five planetary
diameters out from solidity. The landing field's force-field locked on
to it, and its descent began.

The business of landing was all very familiar, from the blue rim which
appeared at the limb of the planet from one diameter out, to the
singular flowing-apart of the surface features as the ship sank still
lower. There was the circular landing-grid, rearing skyward for nearly
a mile. It could let down interstellar liners from emptiness and lift
them out to emptiness again, with great convenience and economy for
everyone.

It landed the Med Ship in its center, and there were officials to
greet Calhoun, and he knew in advance the routine part of his visit.
There would be an interview with the planet's chief executive, by
whatever title he was called. There would be a banquet. Murgatroyd
would be petted by everybody. There would be painful efforts to
impress Calhoun with the splendid conduct of public health matters on
Weald. He would be told much scandal.

He might find one man, somewhere, who passionately labored to advance
the welfare