tossed the towel into the sterilizer. "Can't be done. We're
expanding so fast all over the Galaxy that Earth can't train and ship
out enough doctors for the new colonies. If we sent him back, I don't
know when we'd get another."

Dr. Kalmar swallowed. "You mean it's him or nobody?"

"Afraid so."

"But he'll never fit in on Deneb!"

"You did," Dr. Lowell said.

Dr. Kalmar tried to smile modestly. "I realized immediately how little I
knew and how much more experience you had. I was willing to learn. Why,
I used to listen to you and watch you work and try to see your reasons
for doing things--"

"You think so?" asked Dr. Lowell.

Dr. Kalmar glanced at him in astonishment. "You know I did. I still do,
for that matter."

"When you landed on Deneb," said Dr. Lowell, "you were the most
stubborn, opinionated young ass I'd ever met."

Dr. Kalmar's smile became an appreciative grin. "Damn, I wish I had that
light touch of yours!"

"You were so dogmatic and argumentative that Dr. Hoyt is a suggestible
schoolboy in comparison."

"Well, you don't have to go that far," Dr. Kalmar said. "I get what
you're driving at--every intern needs orientation and I should be more
patient and understanding."

"Then you don't follow me at all," stated Dr. Lowell. "Invite Dr. Hoyt,
Miss Dupont and me to your house for dinner tonight and maybe you'll get
a better idea of what I mean."

"Anything for a free meal, eh?"

"And to keep a doctor here on Deneb that we'd lose otherwise."

"Implying that I can't do it."

"Isn't that the decision you'd come to?"

"Yes, I guess it is," Dr. Kalmar confessed. "All right, how about dinner
at my house tonight? I'll round up the other two and call Harriet so
she'll expect us."

"Delighted to come," said Dr. Lowell. "Nice of you to ask me."

Miss Dupont was elated at the invitation and Dr. Hoyt said he had
nothing else to do anyway. On the videophone Mrs. Kalmar was dismayed
for a moment, until Dr. Lowell told her to put through an emergency
order to Central Commissary and he'd verify it.

That was when Dr. Kalmar realized how serious the old man was. On a raw
planet where crises were everyday routine, a situation had to be
catastrophic before it could be called an emergency.

* * * * *

Dinner on Deneb was the same as anywhere else in the Galaxy. To free
women for other work, food was delivered weekly in cooked form. A
special messenger from Central Commi