Smathers looked up from the report in alarm, and Pilar had a similar
expression on his face.

"For Pete's sake," said Smathers, "don't tell anyone--not
_anyone_--about this, just yet. We don't want all your men rushing out
in the forest to gobble down those things until we are more sure of
them. Give us a few more days at least."

The colonel patted the air with a hand. "Don't worry. I'll wait until
you give me the go-ahead. But I'll want to know your plans."

Pilar pursed his lips for a moment before he spoke. "We'll check up on
MacNeil for another forty-eight hours. We'd like to have him transferred
over here, so that we can keep him in isolation. We'll feed him more of
the ... uh ... what'd he call 'em, Smathers?"

"Banana-pears."

"We'll feed him more banana-pears, and keep checking. If he is still in
good shape, we'll ask for volunteers."

"Good enough," said the colonel. "I'll keep in touch."

* * * * *

On the morning of the third day in isolation, MacNeil rose early, as
usual, gulped down his normal assortment of vitamins, added a couple of
aspirin tablets, and took a dose of Epsom salts for good measure. Then
he yawned and leaned back to wait for breakfast. He was certainly
getting enough fresh fruit, that was certain. He'd begun to worry about
whether he was getting a balanced diet--he'd heard that a balanced diet
was very important--but he figured that the doctors knew what they were
doing. Leave it up to them.

He'd been probed and needled and tested plenty in the last couple of
days, but he didn't mind it. It gave him a feeling of confidence to know
that the doctors were taking care of him. Maybe he ought to tell them
about his various troubles; they all seemed like nice guys. On the other
hand, it wouldn't do to get booted out of the Service. He'd think it
over for a while.

He settled back to doze a little while he waited for his breakfast to be
served. Sure was nice to be taken care of.

* * * * *

Later on that same day, Dr. Pilar put out a call for volunteers. He
still said nothing about MacNeil; he simply asked the colonel to say
that it had been eaten successfully by a test animal.

The volunteers ate their banana-pears for lunch, approaching them warily
at first, but soon polishing them off with gusto, proclaiming them to
have a fine taste.

The next morning, they felt weak and listless.

Thirty-six hours later, they