rs me is
how Dr. Williamson missed them."

"The old man was senile," Blalok said. "He was nearly blind the last six
months of his life. I wouldn't doubt that he let his assistants do most
of his work, and they could have missed them."

"Possibly, but the lesions are easy to see. At any rate, the culprit is
known now."

"Culprit?"

"Hepatodirus hominis--the human liver fluke. He's a tricky little
fellow--travels almost as far as men do."

"I'm glad it's your problem, not mine. All I can remember about flukes
is that they're hard to eradicate."

"Particularly H. hominis."

"You can tell me about it later. Right now Mr. Alexander's over at
Old--your house. Probably he's looking for you."

"Where's Jordan?"

"He went up to Station Fourteen. We'll see him tomorrow."

"I'll say good night then," Kennon said.

"I'm glad you're here. It's a load off my shoulders. See you tomorrow."
Blalok waved a friendly good night and left the lights on long enough
for Kennon to make his way to his quarters.

Alexander was seated in a heavily upholstered chair listening to a taped
symphony in the stereo, his eyes half closed, an expression of peace
on his face. An elderly Lani stood beside him. It was a comfortable
picture.

The humanoid saw Kennon and gasped, a tiny indrawn sound of surprise.
Alexander's eyes snapped open. "Oh--it's you," he said. "Don't worry,
Kara--it's your new doctor."

Kara smiled. "You startled me," she said. "I was dreaming."

"On your feet?" Alexander interjected idly.

"I should have known you at once, Doctor. There's talk about you all
over the yards, ever since you arrived."

"They know what is going on around here better than any of us,"
Alexander chuckled. "The grapevine is amazingly efficient. Well--what's
the story?"

"Liver fluke."

"Hmm--not good."

"I think it can be stopped. I looked at the records. It doesn't seem to
have been here too long."

"I hope you're right. How long will it take?"

"Several months, maybe a year, maybe more. I can't say. But I'll try to
clean it up as quickly as possible. I'm pretty sure of the fluke, and
it's a hard one to control."

"Hepatodirus?"

Kennon nodded.

"That's an offworld parasite, isn't it?"

"Yes. It originated on Santos. Parasitized the Varl originally, but
liked humans better. It's adapted to a hundred different planetary
environments, and it keeps spreading. It's a real cutie--almost
intelligent the way it behaves. But it can