ue than he
might have been.

"Yes? What is it?" he asked. He had been correlating notes in his
journal with the thought in the back of his mind that he would never
finish it, but he felt that a small respite might be relaxing.

MacNeil came in and looked nervously around at the plain walls of the
pre-fab plastic dome-hut as though seeking consolation from them. Then
he straightened himself in the approved military manner and looked at
the doctor.

"You Dr. Piller? Sir?"

"Pi_lar_," said the scientist in correction. "If you're looking for the
medic, you'll want Dr. Smathers, over in G Section."

"Oh, yessir," said MacNeil quickly, "I know that. But I ain't sick." He
didn't feel _that_ sick, anyway. "I'm Spaceman Second MacNeil, sir, from
B Company. Could I ask you something, sir?"

Pilar sighed a little, then smiled. "Go ahead, spaceman."

MacNeil wondered if maybe he'd ought to ask the doctor about his
sacroiliac pains, then decided against it. This wasn't the time for it.
"Well, about the food. Uh ... Doc, can men eat monkey food all right?"

Pilar smiled. "Yes. What food there is left for the monkeys has already
been sent to the men's mess hall." He didn't add that the lab animals
would be the next to go. Quick-frozen, they might help eke out the
dwindling food supply, but it would be better not to let the men know
what they were eating for a while. When they got hungry enough, they
wouldn't care.

But MacNeil was plainly puzzled by Pilar's answer. He decided to
approach the stuff as obliquely as he knew how.

"Doc, sir, if I ... I uh ... well--" He took the bit in his teeth and
plunged ahead. "If I done something against the regulations, would you
have to report me to Captain Bellwether?"

Dr. Pilar leaned back in his chair and looked at the big man with
interest. "Well," he said carefully, "that would all depend on what it
was. If it was something really ... ah ... dangerous to the welfare of
the expedition, I'd have to say something about it, I suppose, but I'm
not a military officer, and minor infractions don't concern me."

MacNeil absorbed that "Well, sir, this ain't much, really--I ate
something I shouldn't of."

Pilar drew down his brows. "Stealing food, I'm afraid, would be a major
offense, under the circumstances."

MacNeil looked both startled and insulted. "Oh, nossir! I never swiped
no food! In fact, I've been givin' my chow to my buddies."

Pilar's brows lifted. He suddenly realized th