" Mr. Fallon said, "we'll try something else.
I don't mind as long as it makes you happy."

They closed the door behind them, leaving the hospital empty of all but
the small staff.

"They're crazy!" Dr. Hoyt exploded. "He's not the one we should be
changing. That idiotic female needs a good Ego Alter!"

"He hasn't asked for it," Dr. Kalmar pointed out patiently.

"Then he ought to!"

"That's his decision, isn't it? There's such a thing as ethics, you
know."

"I've never seen anything more insane than the way you work," snapped
Dr. Hoyt. "I can't wait to finish my stretch here and go home."

He stamped out, weaving slightly because of the sedative.

"Well, what do you think of our assistant?" asked Dr. Kalmar.

"He's cute," Miss Dupont said irrationally.

Dr. Kalmar glowered at her. He'd forgotten that she was due to have a
mate assigned to her this year.

* * * * *

Routine at the hospital was anything but routine. Dr. Hoyt barely kept
from yelping each time someone was treated, and his help was given so
unwillingly that Dr. Kalmar, sweating under a double load and with Dr.
Hoyt to argue with at the same time, was all for putting him on the ship
and asking Earth for another intern. But Miss Dupont talked him out of
it.

For no discernible reason other than loneliness, Dr. Hoyt was taking her
out. She was pleased, even though he crabbed constantly about the
shabby-looking clothes she wore, which were typical of Deneb, and the
way they fitted her.

Either the two of them didn't talk shop, or she had no influence with
him--his criticism and impatience grew sharper each week.

It bothered Dr. Kalmar more than he thought it should, and much more
than Mrs. Kalmar wanted it to. She was a pleasant little woman who liked
things as they were, which was why Dr. Kalmar had hesitated all this
while to ask her to undergo a slight rephysical; he would have preferred
her a little taller, more filled out, her slight wrinkles deleted and,
while he was thinking about it, he wished she'd let him give her
space-black hair instead of her indeterminately blondish mop. But he'd
rather have her as she was than peevish, so he had never mentioned it.

"Don't let the boy upset you, she said. "It's only that he's so young
and inexperienced. You can't expect him to adjust quickly to a new
environment and a whole new medical orientation."

"But that's just what annoys me! Why, I used to hang onto ev