BY MURRAY LEINSTER
Illustrated by van Dongen
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Astounding Science Fiction October 1957.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
"... No man can be fully efficient if he expects praise orappreciation for what he does. The uncertainty of this reward, asexperienced, leads to modification of one's actions to increase itsprobability.... If a man permits himself the purpose of securingadmiration, he tends to make that purpose primary and the doing of hisproper work secondary. This costs human lives...."
Manual, Interstellar Medical Service. Pp. 17-18.
The little Med ship seemed absolutely motionless when the hour-offwarning whirred. Then it continued to seem motionless. Thebackground-noise tapes went on, making the small, unrelated sounds thatexist unnoticed in all the places where human beings dwell, but whichhave to be provided in a ship in overdrive so a man don't go ship-happyfrom the dead stillness. The hour-off warning was notice of a change inthe shape of things.
Calhoun put aside his book—the manual of the Med Service—and yawned.He got up from his bunk to tidy ship. Murgatroyd, the tormal, openedhis eyes and regarded him drowsily, without uncoiling his furry tailfrom about his nose.
"I wish," said Calhoun critically, "that I could act with yourrealistic appraisal of facts, Murgatroyd! This is a case of noimportance whatever, and you treat it as such, while I fume wheneverI think of its futility. We are a token mission, Murgatroyd,—apoliteness of the Med Service, which has to respond to hystericalsummonses as well as sensible ones. Our time is thrown away!"
Murgatroyd blinked somnolently. Calhoun grinned wryly at him. TheMed ship was a fifty-ton space-vessel—very small indeed, in thesedays—with a crew consisting exclusively of Calhoun and Murgatroydthe tormal. It was one of those little ships the Med Service triesto have call at every colonized planet at least once in four or fiveyears. The idea is to make sure that all new developments in publichealth and individual medicine will spread as widely and as fast as canbe managed. There were larger Med craft to handle dangerous situationsand emergencies of novel form. But all Med ships were expected tohandle everything possible, if only because space travel consumed suchquantities of time.
This particular journey, for example: An emergency message had cometo Sector Headquarters from the planetary government of Phaedra II.Carried on a commercial vessel in overdrive at many times the speedof light, it had taken three months to reach Headquarters. And theemergency in which it asked aid was absurd. There was, said themessage, a state of war between Phaedra II and Canis III. Militaryaction against Canis III would begin very shortly. Med Service aid forinjured and ill would be needed. It was therefore requested at once.
The bare idea of war, naturally, was ridiculous. There could not be warbetween planets. Worlds communicated with each other by spaceships, tobe sure, but the Lawlor interplanetary drive would not work save inunstressed space, and of course overdrive was equally inoperable in aplanet's gravitational field. So a ship setting out for the stars hadto be lifted not less than five planetary diameters from the groundbefore it could turn on any drive of its own. Similarly, it had to belowered an equal distance to a landing after its drive became unusable