The Project Gutenberg EBook of Student Body, by Floyd L. Wallace

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Title: Student Body

Author: Floyd L. Wallace

Illustrator: William Ashman

Release Date: March 29, 2010 [EBook #31815]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STUDENT BODY ***

Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Robert Cicconetti, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from the March 1953 issue of Galaxy. Extensive
research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this
publication was renewed.

STUDENT BODY

By F. L. WALLACE

Illustrated by ASHMAN

_When a really infallible scientific bureau makes a
drastically serious error, the data must be wrong ... but
wrong in what way?_

* * * * *

The first morning that they were fully committed to the planet, the
executive officer stepped out of the ship. It was not quite dawn.
Executive Hafner squinted in the early light; his eyes opened wider,
and he promptly went back inside. Three minutes later, he reappeared
with the biologist in tow.

"Last night you said there was nothing dangerous," said the executive.
"Do you still think it's so?"

Dano Marin stared. "I do." What his voice lacked in conviction, it
made up in embarrassment. He laughed uncertainly.

"This is no laughing matter. I'll talk to you later."

The biologist stood by the ship and watched as the executive walked to
the row of sleeping colonists.

"Mrs. Athyl," said the executive as he stopped beside the sleeping
figure.

She yawned, rubbed her eyes, rolled over, and stood up. The covering
that should have been there, however, wasn't. Neither was the garment
she had on when she had gone to sleep. She assumed the conventional
position of a woman who is astonished to find herself unclad without
her knowledge or consent.

[Illustration]

"It's all right, Mrs. Athyl. I'm not a voyeur myself. Still, I think
you should get some clothing on." Mo