possible treatment.

He riffled through his stores; There was ether enough, fortunately. The
villagers had made that for him out of Martian plants, using their
complicated fermentation processes. He yelled for Jake, and the boy
brought the old man back a moment later.

"Jake, I'll need more of that narcotic stuff. I don't want the woman
writhing and tearing her stitches after the ether wears off."

"Can't get it, Doc." Jake's eyes seemed to cloud as he said it.
"Distilling plant broke down. Doc, I don't like this case. That woman's
been to the hospital three times. I hear she just got out recently. This
might be a plant, or they figure they can't help her."

"They're afraid to try anything on Mars-normal flesh. They can't be
proved wrong if they do nothing." Doc finished packing his bag and got
ready to go out. "Jake, either I'm a doctor or I'm not. I can't worry
when a woman may be dying."

For a second, Jake's expression was stubborn. Then the little crow's
feet around his eyes deepened and the dry chuckle was back in his voice.
"Right, Dr. Feldman." He flipped up his thumb and went off at a
shuffling run toward the tractor. Lou and the man from Einstein followed
Doc into the machine.

It was a silent ride, except for Doc's questions about the sick woman.
Her husband, George Lynn, was evasive and probably ignorant. He admitted
that Harriet had been to the dispensary and small infirmary that
Southport called a hospital.

It was the only place in the entire Southern hemisphere where an
operation could be performed legally. Most cases had to go to
Northport, but Chris had been trying to expand. Apparently, she was
determined to make Southport into another major center before she was
called back to Earth.

Doc wondered why the villagers went there. They had no medical insurance
with the Lobby; they couldn't afford it. Most villagers didn't have the
cash, either. They were forced to mortgage their future work and that of
their families to the drug plants that were run by the Lobby.

"And they just turned your wife away?" Doc asked. He couldn't quite
believe that of Chris.

"Well, I dunno. She wouldn't talk much. Twice she went and they gave her
something. Cost every cent I could borrow. Then this last time, they
kept her a couple days before they let me come and get her. But now
she's a lot worse."

Jake spun about, suddenly tense. "How'd you pay them last time, George?"

"Why, they didn't ask. I told her sh