Something hit him from the side and hurled him joltingly to the sharp
gravel. Gallifa rolled to a fighting crouch, dimly realizing that his
right arm was almost paralyzed. He shook his head hard against the pain.
The man was Nolan--and he was the most frightened man Gallifa had ever
seen.

His face was convulsed with such abject terror that Gallifa was stunned.
He was like an animal at bay, with all moving life his enemy. Gallifa
remained perfectly still, his eyes on the surgeon's scalpel in Nolan's
hand. Then from the mess hall came another rattle of fire.

Gallifa couldn't help jumping. Nolan drew his tight lips away from his
teeth and gestured menacingly with the scalpel. Then a beefy arm
appeared from nowhere and struck the corpsman a chopping blow at the
base of the skull. He dropped the scalpel and fell silently to the
ground.

MacFarland stepped around the corner of the building.

Gallifa tried to rise, then gave way to the weakness of his limbs. The
ground spun crazily past his face and he passed out.

"Gallifa! Snap out of it! Wake up, boy!"

Rough hands were shaking him. He opened his eyes.

"I didn't kill Doc," MacFarland said quietly. "There wasn't time to
explain. I had to act fast. He had enough knockout juice in that needle
to put you away permanently."

Gallifa searched the other man's face. Then, slowly the tension went out
of his features. "I heard shots?"

"Your boys took a few shots at me," MacFarland admitted. "I guess they
thought I was rushing them."

Gallifa stared at Nolan. "We've got to contact the men before it's too
late," he said. "I know what caused the epidemic--and how to stop it.
Anyway, temporarily. If I can only find some way to get them to
listen."

MacFarland said: "We'll find a way. Tell me about it."

"There's nothing wrong with this camp now but fear," Gallifa continued
wearily. "Or the _fear_ of fear. There wasn't any epidemic. It was the
gnomes. It's all here in the micro-film."

MacFarland stared blankly.

"You know how we survey?" Gallifa said quickly. "We send out low-flying
'copters and track the neural waves from all animal life. Later on,
after we pick up some specimens, all the neural patterns on the tapes
are matched. Otherwise, we wouldn't know one from the other. This
information, along with other data, is fed to the analyzers and we get
an excellent idea of the type and distribution of all life in a given
area. The boys did a good job with the 'cop