ver before in his life
experienced the dreadful feeling of emptiness and desertion, the almost
paralyzing fear and helplessness that he had felt when Fuzzy had lost
contact with him. It had seemed as though a vital part of him had
suddenly been torn away, and the memory of the panic that followed sent
chills down his back and woke him up trembling from his sleep. He was
ashamed of his unwarranted attack on Jack, yet even this seemed
insignificant in comparison to the powerful fear that had been driving
him.

Happily, the Blue Doctor chose to let the matter rest where it was, and
if anything, seemed more willing than before to be friendly. For the
first time he seemed to take an active interest in Fuzzy, "chatting"
with him when he thought no one was around, and bringing him occasional
tid-bits of food after meals were over.

Once more life on the _Lancet_ settled back to routine, only to have it
shattered by an incident of quite a different nature. It was just after
they had left a small planet in the Procyon system, one of the routine
check-in points, that they made contact with the Garvian trading ship.

Dal recognized the ship's design and insignia even before the signals
came in, and could hardly contain his excitement. He had not seen a
fellow countryman for years except for an occasional dull luncheon with
the Garvian ambassador to Hospital Earth during medical school days. The
thought of walking the corridors of a Garvian trading ship again brought
an overwhelming wave of homesickness. He was so excited he could hardly
wait for Jack to complete the radio-sighting formalities. "What ship is
she?" he wanted to know. "What house?"

Jack handed him the message transcript. "The ship is the _Teegar_," he
said. "Flagship of the SinSin trading fleet. They want permission to
approach us."

Dal let out a whoop. "Then it's a space trader, and a big one. You've
never seen ships like these before."

Tiger joined them, staring at the message transcript. "A SinSin ship!
Send them the word, Jack, and be quick, before they get disgusted and
move on."

Jack sent out the approach authorization, and they watched with growing
excitement as the great trading vessel began its close-approach
maneuvers.

The name of the house of SinSin was famous throughout the galaxy. It was
one of the oldest and largest of the great trading firms that had built
Garv II into its position of leadership in the Confederation, and the
SinSin ship