Star Surgeon

midnight, and even though the message had said "regardless of hour," Dal shrank from the thought of awakening a physician of the Black Service at two o'clock in the morning. He

ay entrance and dug into his day pack for the pressed biscuit and the canister of wa

fed his friend the biscuit, with squirts of water in between bites. Finally, when the biscuit was gone, Dal s

d in Dal's hand and blinked his eyes sleepily

nd began struggling fiercely to get out again. Dal grinned and replaced the little creature in the cr

pecialized hospital care. The depths of Puget Sound served as a vast aquatic ward system where creatures which normally lived in salt-water oceans on their native planets could be cared for, and the specialty physicians who worked with marine races had facilities here for research and teaching in their specialty. The dry-lan

Dal found a northbound express tube, climbed into an empty capsule, and pressed the buttons for the pathology sector. Presen

f the Black Service of Pathology. Traditionally in Earth medicine, the pathologists had always occupied a position of power and discipline. The autopsy rooms had always been the "Tem

nfederation of Worlds, it was natural that the Black Service of Pathology had become the governor

ysicians from all the services-the Green Service of Medicine, the Blue Service of Diagnosis, the Red Service of Surgery, as

fter all, that the interview tomorrow would not be held. But on reflection, he realized that didn't make sense. If that were the case, Doctor Arnquist would have said so, an

ector and into the quiet, austere quarters of the resident pathologists. He found the proper concourse, and mome

d there were tired lines around his eyes and mouth that Dal did not remember from before. The old man's body seemed mor

r. "I knew you would get the message when you arrived," he said as he took Dal's pack, "and I thought you might be later than you planned. A good trip, I

lowly. "About the i

sour face and shook his head. "A bad business fo

ctor's questions cut through the trimming to the heart o

something that's neces

in your class, including all the services? Three hundred? And out of the three hundred only one was re

s,

normal procedure that your ap

, s

l about it, Dal

Yes, sir. You m

itter," the Bla

tly. "I did my part as well as anyone could, I didn't let up

can't blame you for your feelings." He took a deep breath. "I wish I could promise you that everything would be all right tomorrow, but I'm afraid I can't. The council has a right to review your qualifications, and it holds the power to assign yo

that," D

of millions with the patience and peculiar mental make-up to permit you to master the scientific disciplines involved in studying medicine. Either you are different from the rest

st of his life that he wanted to be a doctor above all else. But he had never found a way to put the reasons into

t make reasonable sense,

I've always wanted to be a doctor. There's nothing

lic thing that came back again and again. The cycle was broken just a few y

ns of Hospital E

have always grown hand in hand with the physical sciences. We had always assumed that the same thing would happen on any planet where a race has developed intelligence and scientific methods of study. We were wrong, of course, which is the reason for the existen

l felt his pale blue eyes searching his face

thing else I k

do anything to ac

d Fuzzy's head gently. "W

s interview, my friend. I know you've played the game straight right from the beginning,

thought frantically. He must be able to read minds! But he thrust the idea away. There was no way that the Black Doctor could know. No race of creatures in

plessly. "I ... I don'

time to lie. The thing that you were planning to do at the interview would be di

and then words were tumbling out of his mouth. "I don't know what you're talking about, there wasn't anything I was thinking of. I mean, wh

studying and observing your people very carefully over the past two hundred years, Dal. It is no accident that you have such a warm attachment to your little pink friend here, and it is no accident that wherever a Garvian is found, his Fuzzy is with him, isn't t

publication, just a private study which I have never mentioned before to anyone, but the pattern is unmistakable. This peculiar talent of your people is difficult to describe: not really telepathy, but an ability to c

rtually paralyze me with fright, render me helpless to do anything but stand here and shiver, couldn't you? Or if I were hostile to you

t understand! I've never done it, not

. I've been

dn't think

the council

ev

this special talent of your people. Give him t

e brought his hand around to the soft fur of the little

ant your assignmen

. "Not even then. But I won't do w

nquist stared at him. Then he smi

I pr

interview. But now there is a bed for you here. You will