ade a roomy planet like this for the jammed cubicles
of Earth. And I like our methods better than terrestrial dogma. But
those are my preferences. I can't inflict them on anybody else."

"The hell they were your preferences. You bickered more about our
methods and longed more loudly for the tenements of Earth than this lad
ever did. All it took was a slight Ego Alter and you have a happier life
than you would have had. Right?"

Dr. Kalmar felt his tension ease. If the old man said it was right, it
was. He became momentarily resentful when he realized that that reaction
had been installed by Dr. Lowell, but then he smiled. It really was
right. A bit arbitrary, perhaps, but for the good of Dr. Hoyt and Deneb
in the long run, just as it had been for himself.

"Look," he said, drying his arms. "I've been wanting my wife to go
through a slight rephysical."

"Why don't you ask her?"

"The fact is that I'm afraid she'll think I'm dissatisfied and I don't
want her to get resentful."

"Maybe she'd like you to do some changing, too."

"What for? I'm all right."

"She probably feels the same way about herself."

"But all I want are a few changes in her. She's as high as a space pilot
now. It would be a cinch to--"

Dr. Lowell flung down the towel and gave him an outraged glare. "There's
such a thing as professional ethics, Dr. Kalmar!"

"But you--"

"That's different. It was a social decision, not a selfish one. If you
ask her and she agrees, that's up to her. But you can't take advantage
of her in an egocentric, arbitrary way. You just try it and I'll have
you sent back to Earth."

Dr. Kalmar felt his knees grow weak in alarm. "No, no. It's not that
important. Just an insignificant kind of wish."

And it was, he discovered when they went out to the waiting room. Unused
to jags, Mrs. Kalmar was more affectionate than she'd been since they
were first married; he'd have to remember to go on them periodically
with her. Miss Dupont, unwilling to budge out of Dr. Hoyt's tight arms,
had glassily joyous eyes. Dr. Hoyt didn't let her go until he caught
sight of Dr. Kalmar.

"Greatest doctor I ever met," he said enthusiastically. "Won'ful planet,
Deneb. Just wanna marry Miss Dupont, stay here and learn at your feet.
Okay?"

Dr. Kalmar's glance at the old man was no less worshipful. "It couldn't
be okayer," he said.

End of Project Gutenberg's No Charge for Alterations, by Horace Leonard Gold

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