e vital part just in order to fight
back--but it was the _virus_ that was being killed by its own host, not
the other way around."

Jack studied the idea, no longer scornful. "So you think the
virus-creatures called for help, hoping we could find some way to free
them from the hosts that were killing them. And when Fuzzy developed a
powerful antibody against them, and we started using the stuff--" Jack
broke off, shaking his head in horror. "Dal, if you're right, we were
literally _slaughtering our own patients_ when we gave those injections
down there!"

"Exactly," Dal said. "Is it any wonder they're so scared of us now? It
must have looked like a deliberate attempt to wipe them out, and now
they're afraid that we'll go get help and _really_ move in against
them."

Tiger nodded. "Which was precisely what we were planning, if you stop to
think about it. Maybe that was why they were so reluctant to tell us
anything about themselves. Maybe they've already been mistaken for
parasitic invaders before, wherever in the universe they came from."

"But if this is true, then we're really in a jam," Jack said. "What can
we possibly do for them? We can't even repair the damage that we've
already done. What sort of treatment can we use?"

Dal shook his head. "I don't know the answer to that one, but I do know
we've got to find out if we're right. An intelligent virus-creature has
as much right to life as any other intelligent life-form. If we've
guessed right, then there's a lot that our intelligent friends down
there haven't told us. Maybe there'll be some clue there. We've just got
to face them with it, and see what they say."

Jack looked at the viewscreen, at the angry mob milling around on the
ground, held back from the ship by the energy screen. "You mean just go
out there and say, 'Look fellows, it was all a mistake, we didn't really
mean to do it?'" He shook his head. "Maybe you want to tell them. Not
me!"

"Dal's right, though," Tiger said. "We've got to contact them somehow.
They aren't even responding to radio communication, and they've
scrambled our outside radio and fouled our drive mechanism somehow.
We've got to settle this while we still have an energy screen."

There was a long silence as the three doctors looked at each other. Then
Dal stood up and walked over to the swinging platform. He lifted Fuzzy
down onto his shoulder. "It'll be all right," he said to Jack and
Tiger. "I'll go out."

"They'll tear