and shouldering his day pack. "I guess this is
my flight, Tiger. I'd better get in line."

Tiger Martin gripped Dal's slender four-fingered hand tightly. "Look,"
he said intensely, "this is some sort of mistake that the training
council will straighten out. I'm sure of it. Lots of guys have their
applications reviewed. It happens all the time, but they still get their
assignments."

"Do you know of any others in this class? Or the last class?"

"Maybe not," Tiger said. "But if they were washing you out, why would
the council be reviewing it? Somebody must be fighting for you."

"But Black Doctor Tanner is on the council," Dal said.

"He's not the only one on the council. It's going to work out. You'll
see."

"I hope so," Dal said without conviction. He started for the loading
line, then turned. "But where are _you_ going to be? What ship?"

Tiger hesitated. "Not assigned yet. I'm taking a leave. But you'll be
hearing from me."

The loading call blared from the loudspeaker. The tall Earthman seemed
about to say something more, but Dal turned away and headed across
toward the line for the shuttle plane. Ten minutes later, he was aloft
as the tiny plane speared up through the black night sky and turned its
needle nose toward the west.

* * * * *

He tried to sleep, but couldn't. The shuttle trip from the Port of
Philadelphia to Hospital Seattle was almost two hours long because of
passenger stops at Hospital Cleveland, Eisenhower City, New Chicago, and
Hospital Billings. In spite of the help of the pneumatic seats and a
sleep-cap, Dal could not even doze. It was one of the perfect clear
nights that often occurred in midsummer now that weather control could
modify Earth's air currents so well; the stars glittered against the
black velvet backdrop above, and the North American continent was free
of clouds. Dal stared down at the patchwork of lights that flickered up
at him from the ground below.

Passing below him were some of the great cities, the hospitals, the
research and training centers, the residential zones and supply centers
of Hospital Earth, medical center to the powerful Galactic
Confederation, physician in charge of the health of a thousand
intelligent races on a thousand planets of a thousand distant star
systems. Here, he knew, was the ivory tower of galactic medicine, the
hub from which the medical care of the confederation arose. From the
huge hospitals, research