p him
around? What good does he do you, anyhow? All he does is eat and drink
and sleep."

"Does he have to do something?" Dal said evasively. "He isn't bothering
you. Why pick on him?"

"He just seems to worry you an awful lot," Jack said unpleasantly.
"Let's see him a minute." He reached out for Fuzzy, then jerked his
finger back with a yelp. Blood dripped from the finger tip.

Jack's face slowly went white. "Why, he--he _bit_ me!"

"Yes, and you're lucky he didn't take a finger off," Dal said, trembling
with anger. "He doesn't like you any more than I do, and you'll get bit
every time you come near him, so you'd better keep your hands to
yourself."

"Don't worry," Jack Alvarez said, "he won't get another chance. You can
just get rid of him."

"Not a chance," Dal said. "You leave him alone and he won't bother you,
that's all. And the same thing goes for me."

"If he isn't out of here in twelve hours, I'll get a warrant," Jack said
tightly. "There are laws against keeping dangerous pets on patrol
ships."

Somewhere in the main corridor an alarm bell began buzzing. For a
moment Dal and Jack stood frozen, glaring at each other. Then the door
burst open and Tiger Martin's head appeared. "Hey, you two, let's get
moving! We've got a call coming in, and it looks like a tough one. Come
on back here!"

They headed back toward the radio room. The signal was coming through
frantically as Tiger reached for the pile of punched tape running out on
the floor. But as they crowded into the radio room, Dal felt Jack's hand
on his arm. "If you think I was fooling, you're wrong," the Blue Doctor
said through his teeth. "You've got twelve hours to get rid of him."

CHAPTER 5

CRISIS ON MORUA VIII

The three doctors huddled around the teletype, watching as the decoded
message was punched out on the tape. "It started coming in just now,"
Tiger said. "And they've been beaming the signal in a spherical pattern,
apparently trying to pick up the nearest ship they could get. There's
certainly some sort of trouble going on."

The message was brief, repeated over and over: REQUIRE MEDICAL AID
URGENT REPLY AT ONCE. This was followed by the code letters that
designated the planet, its location, and the number of its medical
service contract.

Jack glanced at the code. "Morua VIII," he said. "I think that's a grade
I contract." He began punching buttons on the reference panel, and
several screening cards came down the slot