him for the first
time as people. It had been a long time since he'd been treated as a
fellow human by anyone.

Jake was right, he knew. Once he put his hand to the bandage, eventually
there'd be no turning back from the scalpel. These people needed medical
help too desperately. Eventually, the news would spread, and the Lobby
police would come for him. Chris couldn't afford to shield him. In fact,
he was sure now that she'd hunt him night and day.

"Don't be a fool, Jake," he ordered brusquely. He handed his list to one
of the women. "You'll have to learn to do what I do," he told the people
there. "You'll have to work like fools for weeks. But there won't be
many crippled children. I can promise that much!"

He blinked sharply at the sudden hope in their eyes. But his mind went
on wondering how long it would be before the inevitable would catch up
with him. With luck, maybe a few months. But he hadn't been blessed with
any superabundance of luck. It would probably be less time than he
thought.

V

Surgery

Doc Feldman's luck was better than he had expected. For an Earth year,
he was a doctor again, moving about from village to village as he was
needed and doing what he could.

The village had been isolated during the early colonization when Mars
made a feeble attempt to break free of Space Lobby. Their supplies had
been cut off and they had been forced to do for themselves. Now they
were largely self-sufficient. They grew native plants and extracted
hormones in crude little chemical plants. The hormones were traded to
the big chemical plants for a pittance to buy what had to come from
Earth. Other jury-rigged affairs synthesized much of their food. But
mostly they learned to get along on what Mars provided.

Doc Feldman learned from them. Money was no longer part of his life. He
ate with whatever family needed him and slipped into the life around
him.

He was learning Martian medicine and finding that his Earth courses were
mostly useless. No wonder the villagers distrusted Lobby doctors. Doc
had his own little laboratory where he had managed to start making
Mars-normal penicillin--a primitive antibiotic, but better than nothing.

Jake had come to remind him that it was his first anniversary, and now
they were smoking bracky together.

"Sheer luck, Jake," Doc repeated. "You Martians are tough. But some day
someone is going to die under my care, with the little equipment I have.
Then--"

Jake n