ut there were problems in dealing with uncontacted planets. Many star
systems had never been explored by ships of the Confederation. Many
races, like Earthmen at the time their star-drive was discovered, had no
inkling of the existence of a Galactic Confederation of worlds. There
might be no information whatever about the special anatomical and
physiological characteristics of the inhabitants of an uncontacted
planet, and often a patrol crew faced insurmountable difficulties,
coming in blind to solve a medical problem.

Dal had his information gathered first--a disappointingly small amount
indeed. Among the billions of notes on file in the _Lancet_'s data bank,
there were only two scraps of data available on the 31 Brucker system.

"Is this all you could find?" Tiger said, staring at the information
slips.

"There's just nothing else there," Dal said. "This one is a description
and classification of the star, and it doesn't sound like the one who
wrote it had even been near it."

"He hadn't," Tiger said. "This is a routine radio-telescopic survey
report. The star is a red giant. Big and cold, with three--possibly
four--planets inside the outer envelope of the star itself, and only one
outside it. Nothing about satellites. None of the planets thought to be
habitable by man. What's the other item?"

"An exploratory report on the outer planet, done eight hundred years
ago. Says it's an Earth-type planet, and not much else. Gives reference
to the full report in the Confederation files. Not a word about an
intelligent race living there."

"Well, maybe Jack's got a bit more for us," Tiger said. "If the place
has been explored, there must be _some_ information about the
inhabitants."

But Jack also came up with a blank. Central Records on Hospital Earth
sent back a physical description of a tiny outer planet of the star,
with a thin oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, very little water, and enough
methane mixed in to make the atmosphere deadly to Earthmen.

"Then there's never been a medical service contract?" Tiger asked.

"Contract!" Jack said. "It doesn't even say there are any people there.
Not a word about any kind of life form."

"Well, that's ridiculous," Dal said. "If we're getting messages from
there, somebody must be sending them. But if a Confederation ship
explored there, there's a way to find out. How soon can we convert to
star-drive?"

"As soon as we can get strapped down," Tiger said.

"Then send our rec