wn here.

With a clanging of bells, the little convoy of ground cars drew up in
front of the hospital. A way was made through the chittering crowd
around the entrance. Within a few minutes, Kinton found himself looking
down at a pallet upon which lay another Terran.

A man! he thought, then curled a lip wrily at the sudden, unexpected
pang of disappointment. Well, he hadn't realized until then what he was
really hoping for!

* * * * *

The spaceman had been cleaned up and bandaged by the native medicos.
Kinton saw that his left thigh was probably broken. Other dressings
suggested cracked ribs and lacerations on the head and shoulders. The
man was dark-haired but pale of skin, with a jutting chin and a nose
that had been flattened in some earlier mishap. The flaring set of his
ears somehow emphasized an overall leanness. Even in sleep, his mouth
was thin and hard.

"Thrown across the controls after his belt broke loose?" Kinton guessed.

"I bow to your wisdom, George," said the plump Tepoktan doctor who
appeared to be in charge.

Kinton could not remember him, but everyone on the planet addressed the
Terran by the sound they fondly thought to be his first name.

"This is Doctor Chuxolkhee," murmured Klaft.

Kinton made the accepted gesture of greeting with one hand and said,
"You seem to have treated him very expertly."

Chuxolkhee ruffled the scales around his neck with pleasure.

"I have studied Terran physiology," he admitted complacently. "From your
records and drawings, of course, George, for I have not yet had the good
fortune to visit you."

"We must arrange a visit soon," said Kinton. "Klaft will--"

He broke off at the sound from the patient.

"A Terran!" mumbled the injured man.

He shook his head dazedly, tried to sit up, and subsided with a groan.

_Why, he looked scared when he saw me_, thought Kinton.

"You're all right now," he said soothingly. "It's all over and you're in
good hands. I gather there were no other survivors of the crash?"

The man stared curiously. Kinton realized that his own language
sputtered clumsily from his lips after ten years. He tried again.

"My name is George Kinton. I don't blame you if I'm hard to understand.
You see, I've been here ten years without ever having another Terran to
speak to."

The spaceman considered that for a few breaths, then seemed to relax.

"Al Birken," he introduced himself laconically. "Ten years?"