od perfectly still, and suddenly he noticed
that Fuzzy was very quiet on his shoulder.

"You will understand that this acceptance is not irrevocable," the White
Doctor went on. "We are not willing to guarantee your ultimate
acceptance as a fully qualified Star Surgeon at this point. You will be
allowed to wear a collar and cuff, uniform and insignia of a
probationary physician, in the Red Service, and will be assigned aboard
the General Practice Patrol ship _Lancet_, leaving from Hospital Seattle
next Tuesday. If you prove your ability in that post, your performance
will once again be reviewed by this board, but you alone will determine
our decision then. Your final acceptance as a Star Surgeon will depend
entirely upon your conduct as a member of the patrol ship's crew." He
smiled at Dal, and set the paper down. "The council wishes you well. Do
you have any questions?"

"Just one," Dal managed to say. "Who will my crewmates be?"

"As is customary, a probationer from the Green Service of Medicine and
one from the Blue Service of Diagnosis. Both have been specially
selected by this council. Your Blue Doctor will be Jack Alvarez, who has
shown great promise in his training in diagnostic medicine."

"And the Green Doctor?"

"A young man named Frank Martin," the White Doctor said. "Known to his
friends, I believe, as 'Tiger.'"

CHAPTER 4

THE GALACTIC PILL PEDDLERS

The ship stood tall and straight on her launching pad, with the
afternoon sunlight glinting on her hull. Half a dozen crews of check-out
men were swarming about her, inspecting her engine and fuel supplies,
riding up the gantry crane to her entrance lock, and guiding the great
cargo nets from the loading crane into her afterhold. High up on her
hull Dal Timgar could see a golden caduceus emblazoned, the symbol of
the General Practice Patrol, and beneath it the ship's official name:

GPPS 238
_LANCET_

Dal shifted his day pack down from his shoulders, ridiculously pleased
with the gleaming scarlet braid on the collar and cuff of his uniform,
and lifted Fuzzy up on his shoulder to see. It seemed to Dal that
everyone he had passed in the terminal had been looking at the colorful
insignia; it was all he could do to keep from holding his arm up and
waving it like a banner.

"You'll get used to it," Tiger Martin chuckled as they waited for the
jitney to take them across to the launching pad. "At first you think
everybody is impressed