ger and Jack of the true nature of his relationship
with Fuzzy, of the odd power over the emotions of others that Fuzzy's
presence gave him. He could tell by their faces that they realized that
he was leaving something out; they had watched him go down to face a
blood-thirsty mob, and had seen that mob become docile as lambs as
though by magic. Clearly they could not understand what had happened,
yet they did not ask him.

"So it was Fuzzy's idea to volunteer as a new host for the creatures,"
Jack said.

Dal nodded. "I knew that he could reproduce, of course," he said. "Every
Garvian has a Fuzzy, and whenever a new Garvian is born, the father's
Fuzzy always splits so that half can join the new-born child. It's like
the division of a cell; within hours the Fuzzy that stayed down there
will have divided to provide enough protoplasm for every one of the
surviving intelligent Bruckians."

"And your diagnosis was the right one," Jack said.

"We'll see," Dal said. "Tomorrow we'll know better."

But clearly the problem had been solved. The next day there was an
excited conference between the spokesman and the doctors on the
_Lancet_. The Bruckians had elected to maintain the same host body as
before. They had gotten used to it; with the small pink creatures
serving as a shelter to protect them against the deadly antibodies, they
could live in peace and security. But they were eager, before the
_Lancet_ disembarked, to sign a full medical service contract with the
doctors from Hospital Earth. A contract was signed, subject only to
final acceptance and ratification by the Hospital Earth officials.

Now that their radio was free again, the three doctors jubilantly
prepared a full account of the problem of 31 Brucker and its solution,
and dispatched the news of the new contract to the first relay station
on its way back to Hospital Earth. Then, weary to the point of collapse,
they retired for the first good sleep in days, eagerly awaiting an
official response from Hospital Earth on the completed case and the
contract.

"It ought to wipe out any black mark Dr. Tanner has against any of us,"
Jack said happily. "And especially in Dal's case." He grinned at the Red
Doctor. "This one has been yours, all the way. You pulled it out of the
fire after I flubbed it completely, and you're going to get the credit,
if I have anything to say about it."

"We should all get credit," Dal said. "A new contract isn't signed every
day of th