Star Surgeon

by Alan Edward Nourse

  CHAPTER 4

  THE GALACTIC PILL PEDDLERS

  The ship stood tall and straight on her launching pad, with theafternoon sunlight glinting on her hull. Half a dozen crews of check-outmen were swarming about her, inspecting her engine and fuel supplies,riding up the gantry crane to her entrance lock, and guiding the greatcargo nets from the loading crane into her afterhold. High up on herhull Dal Timgar could see a golden caduceus emblazoned, the symbol ofthe General Practice Patrol, and beneath it the ship's official name:

  GPPS 238 _LANCET_

  Dal shifted his day pack down from his shoulders, ridiculously pleasedwith the gleaming scarlet braid on the collar and cuff of his uniform,and lifted Fuzzy up on his shoulder to see. It seemed to Dal thateveryone he had passed in the terminal had been looking at the colorfulinsignia; it was all he could do to keep from holding his arm up andwaving it like a banner.

  "You'll get used to it," Tiger Martin chuckled as they waited for thejitney to take them across to the launching pad. "At first you thinkeverybody is impressed by the colors, until you see some guy go pastwith the braid all faded and frazzled at the edges, and then you realizethat you're just the latest greenhorn in a squad of two hundred thousandmen."

  "It's still good to be wearing it," Dal said. "I couldn't really believeit until Black Doctor Arnquist turned the collar and cuff over to me."He looked suspiciously at Tiger. "You must have known a lot more aboutthat interview than you let on. Or, was it just coincidence that we wereassigned together?"

  "Not coincidence, exactly." Tiger grinned. "I didn't know what was goingto happen. I'd requested assignment with you on my application, and thenwhen yours was held up, Doctor Arnquist asked me if I'd be willing towait for assignment until the interview was over. So I said okay. Heseemed to think you had a pretty good chance."

  "I'd never have made it without his backing," Dal said.

  "Well, anyway, he figured that if you _were_ assigned, it would be agood idea to have a friend on the patrol ship team."

  "I won't argue about _that_," Dal said. "But who is the Blue Serviceman?"

  Tiger's face darkened. "I don't know much about him," he said. "Hetrained in California, and I met him just once, at a diagnosis andtherapy conference. He's supposed to be plenty smart, according to thegrapevine. I guess he'd have to be, to pass Diagnostic Service finals."Tiger chuckled. "Any dope can make it in the Medical or SurgicalServices, but diagnosis is something else again."

  "Will he be in command?"

  "On the _Lancet_? Why should he? We'll share command, just like anypatrol ship crew. If we run into problems we can't agree on, we hollerfor help. But if he acts like most of the Blue Doctors I know, he'll_think_ he's in command."

  A jitney stopped for them, and then zoomed out across the field towardthe ship. The gantry platform was just clanging to the ground, unloadingthree technicians and a Four-bar Electronics Engineer. Tiger and Dalrode the platform up again and moments later stepped through theentrance lock of the ship that would be their home base for months andperhaps years.

  They found the bunk room to the rear of the control and lab sections. Aduffel bag was already lodged on one of the bunks; one of the footlockers was already occupied, and a small but expensive camera and ahuge pair of field glasses were hanging from one of the wall brackets.

  "Looks like our man has already arrived," Tiger said, tossing down hisown duffel bag and looking around the cramped quarters. "Not exactly aluxury suite, I'd say. Wonder where he is?"

  "Let's look up forward," Dal said. "We've plenty to do before we takeoff. Maybe he's just getting an early start."

  They explored the ship, working their way up the central corridor pastthe communications and computer rooms and the laboratory into the maincontrol and observation room. Here they found a thin, dark-haired youngman in a bright blue collar and cuff, sitting engrossed with atape-reader.

  For a moment they thought he hadn't heard them. Then, as thoughreluctant to tear himself away, the Blue Doctor sighed, snapped off thereader, and turned on the swivel stool.

  "So!" he said. "I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to gethere."

  "We ran into some delays," Tiger said. He grinned and held out his hand."Jack Alvarez? Tiger Martin. We met each other at that conference inChicago last year."

  "Yes, I remember," the Blue Doctor said. "You found some holes in apaper I gave. Matter of fact, I've plugged them up very nicely sincethen. You'd have trouble finding fault with the work now." Jack Alvarezturned his eyes to Dal. "And I suppose this is the Garvian I've beenhearing about, complete with his little pink stooge."

  The moment they had walked in the door, Dal had felt Fuzzy crouch downtight against his shoulder. Now a wave of hostility struck his mind likea shower of ice water. He had never seen this thin, dark-haired youthbefore, or even heard of him, but he recognized this sharp impression ofhatred and anger unmistakably. He had felt it a thousand times among hismedical school classmates during the past eight years, and just hoursbefore he had felt it in the council room when Black Doctor Tanner hadturned on him.

  "It's really a lucky break that we have Dal for a Red Doctor," Tigersaid. "We almost didn't get him."

  "Yes, I heard all about how lucky we are," Jack Alvarez said sourly. Helooked Dal over from the gray fur on the top of his head to the spindlylegs in the ill-fitting trousers. Then the Blue Doctor shrugged indisgust and turned back to the tape-reader. "A Garvian and his Fuzzy!"he muttered. "Let's hope one or the other knows something aboutsurgery."

  "I think we'll do all right," Dal said slowly.

  "I think you'd better," Jack Alvarez replied.

  Dal and Tiger looked at each other, and Tiger shrugged. "It's allright," he said. "We know our jobs, and we'll manage."

  Dal nodded, and started back for the bunk room. No doubt, he thought,they would manage.

  But if he had thought before that the assignment on the _Lancet_ wasgoing to be easy, he knew now that he was wrong.

  Tiger Martin may have been Doctor Arnquist's selection as a crewmate forhim, but there was no question in his mind that the Blue Doctor on the_Lancet_'s crew was Black Doctor Hugo Tanner's choice.

  * * * * *

  The first meeting with Jack Alvarez hardly seemed promising to eitherDal or Tiger, but if there was trouble coming, it was postponed for themoment by common consent. In the few days before blast-off there was notime for conflict, or even for much talk. Each of the three crewmen hadtwo full weeks of work to accomplish in two days; each knew his job andburied himself in it with a will.

  The ship's medical and surgical supplies had to be inventoried, andmissing or required supplies ordered up. New supplies coming in had tobe checked, tested, and stored in the ship's limited hold space. It waslike preparing for an extended pack trip into wilderness country; oncethe _Lancet_ left its home base on Hospital Earth it was a world toitself, equipped to support its physician-crew and provide the necessaryequipment and data they would need to deal with the problems they wouldface. Like all patrol ships, the _Lancet_ was equipped with automaticlaunching, navigation and drive mechanisms; no crew other than thethree doctors was required, and in the event of mechanical failures,maintenance ships were on continual call.

  The ship was responsible for patrolling an enormous area, includinghundreds of stars and their planetary systems--yet its territory wasonly a tiny segment of the galaxy. Landings were to be made at variousspecified planets maintaining permanent clinic outposts of HospitalEarth; certain staple supplies were carried for each of these checkpoints. Aside from these lonely clinic contacts, the nearest port ofcall for the _Lancet_ was one of the hospital ships that continuouslyworked slow orbits through the star systems of the confederation.

  But a hospital ship, with its staff of Two-star and Three-starPhysicians, was not to be called except in cases of extreme need. Theprobationers on the patrol ships were expected to be self-sufficient.Their job was to handle diagnosis and care of all but the m
ost difficultproblems that arose in their travels. They were the first to answer themedical calls from any planet with a medical service contract withHospital Earth.

  It was an enormous responsibility for doctors-in-training to assume, butover the years it had proven the best way to train and weed out newdoctors for the greater responsibilities of hospital ship and HospitalEarth assignments. There was no set period of duty on the patrol ships;how long a young doctor remained in the General Practice Patrol dependedto a large extent upon how well he handled the problems andresponsibilities that faced him; and since the first years of HospitalEarth, the fledgling doctors in the General Practice Patrol--theself-styled "Galactic Pill Peddlers"--had lived up to theirresponsibilities. The reputation of Hospital Earth rested on theirshoulders, and they never forgot it.

  As he worked on his inventories, Dal Timgar thought of Doctor Arnquist'swords to him after the council had handed down its decision. "Rememberthat judgment and skill are two different things," he had said. "Withoutskill in the basic principles of diagnosis and treatment, medicaljudgment isn't much help, but skill without the judgment to know how andwhen to use it can be downright dangerous. You'll be judged both on thejudgment you use in deciding the right thing to do, and on the skill youuse in doing it." He had given Dal the box with the coveted collar andcuff. "The colors are pretty, but never forget what they stand for.Until you can convince the council that you have both the skill and thejudgment of a good physician, you will never get your Star. And you willbe watched closely; Black Doctor Tanner and certain others will bewaiting for the slightest excuse to recall you from the _Lancet_. If yougive them the opportunity, nothing I can do will stop it."

  And now, as they worked to prepare the ship for service, Dal wasdetermined that the opportunity would not arise. When he was not workingin the storerooms, he was in the computer room, reviewing the thousandsof tapes that carried the basic information about the contract planetswhere they would be visiting, and the races that inhabited them. Iferrors and fumbles and mistakes were made by the crew of the _Lancet_,he thought grimly, it would not be Dal Timgar who made them.

  The first night they met in the control room to divide the manyextracurricular jobs involved in maintaining a patrol ship.

  Tiger's interest in electronics and communications made him the best manto handle the radio; he accepted the post without comment. "Jack, youshould be in charge of the computer," he said, "because you'll be theone who'll need the information first. The lab is probably your fieldtoo. Dal can be responsible for stores and supplies as well as his ownsurgical instruments."

  Jack shrugged. "I'd just as soon handle supplies, too," he said.

  "Well, there's no need to overload one man," Tiger said.

  "I wouldn't mind that. But when there's something I need, I want to besure it's going to be there without any goof-ups," Jack said.

  "I can handle it all right," Dal said.

  Jack just scowled. "What about the contact man when we make landings?"he asked Tiger.

  "Seems to me Dal would be the one for that, too," Tiger said. "Hispeople are traders and bargainers; right, Dal? And first contact withthe people on unfamiliar planets can be important."

  "It sure can," Jack said. "Too important to take chances with. Look,this is a ship from Hospital Earth. When somebody calls for help, theyexpect to see an Earthman turn up in response. What are they going tothink when a patrol ship lands and _he_ walks out?"

  Tiger's face darkened. "They'll be able to see his collar and cuff,won't they?"

  "Maybe. But they may wonder what he's doing wearing them."

  "Well, they'll just have to learn," Tiger snapped. "And you'll have tolearn, too, I guess."

  Dal had been sitting silently. Now he shook his head. "I think Jack isright on this one," he said. "It would be better for one of you to becontact man."

  "Why?" Tiger said angrily. "You're as much of a doctor from HospitalEarth as we are, and the sooner we get your position here straight, thebetter. We aren't going to have any ugly ducklings on this ship, and wearen't going to hide you in the hold every time we land on a planet. Ifwe want to make anything but a mess of this cruise, we've got to work asa team, and that means everybody shares the important jobs."

  "That's fine," Dal said, "but I still think Jack is right on this point.If we are walking into a medical problem on a planet where the patrolisn't too well known, the contact man by rights ought to be anEarthman."

  Tiger started to say something, and then spread his hands helplessly."Okay," he said. "If you're satisfied with it, let's get on to theseother things." But obviously he wasn't satisfied, and when Jackdisappeared toward the storeroom, Tiger turned to Dal. "You shouldn'thave given in," he said. "If you give that guy as much as an inch,you're just asking for trouble."

  "It isn't a matter of giving in," Dal insisted. "I think he was right,that's all. Don't let's start a fight where we don't have to."

  Tiger yielded the point, but when Jack returned, Tiger avoided him,keeping to himself the rest of the evening. And later, as he tried toget to sleep, Dal wondered for a moment. Maybe Tiger was right. Maybe hewas just dodging a head-on clash with the Blue Doctor now and settingthe stage for a real collision later.

  Next day the argument was forgotten in the air of rising excitement asembarkation orders for the _Lancet_ came through. Preparations werecompleted, and only last-minute double-checks were required beforeblast-off.

  But an hour before count-down began, a jitney buzzed across the field,and a Two-star Pathologist climbed aboard with his three black-cloakedorderlies. "Shakedown inspection," he said curtly. "Just a matter ofroutine." And with that he stalked slowly through the ship, checking thestorage holds, the inventories, the lab, the computer with itsinformation banks, and the control room. As he went along he kept firingmedical questions at Dal and Tiger, hardly pausing long enough for theanswers, and ignoring Jack Alvarez completely. "What's the normal rangeof serum cholesterol in a vegetarian race with Terran environment? Howwould you run a Wenberg electrophoresis? How do you determine individualradiation tolerance? How would you prepare a heart culture for cardiactransplant on board this ship?" The questions went on until Tiger andDal were breathless, as count-down time grew closer and closer. Finallythe Black Doctor turned back toward the entrance lock. He seemed vaguelydisappointed as he checked the record sheets the orderlies had beenkeeping. With an odd look at Dal, he shrugged. "All right, here are yourclearance papers," he said to Jack. "Your supply of serum globulinfractions is up to black-book requirements, but you'll run short if youhappen to hit a virus epidemic; better take on a couple of more cases.And check central information just before leaving. We've signed two newcontracts in the past week, and the co-ordinator's office has someadvance information on both of them."

  When the inspector had gone, Tiger wiped his forehead and sighed. "Thatwas no routine shakedown!" he said. "What _is_ a Wenbergelectrophoresis?"

  "A method of separating serum proteins," Jack Alvarez said. "You ranthem in third year biochemistry. And if we _do_ hit a virus epidemic,you'd better know how, too."

  He gave Tiger an unpleasant smile, and started back down the corridor asthe count-down signal began to buzz.

  But for all the advance arrangements they had made to divide the ship'swork, it was Dal Timgar who took complete control of the _Lancet_ forthe first two weeks of its cruise. Neither Tiger nor Jack challenged hiscommand; not a word was raised in protest. The Earthmen were too sick totalk, much less complain about anything.

  For Dal the blast-off from the port of Seattle and the conversion intoKoenig star-drive was nothing new. His father owned a fleet of Garviantrading ships that traveled to the far corners of the galaxy by means ofa star-drive so similar to the Koenig engines that only an electronicengineer could tell them apart. All his life Dal had traveled on theoutgoing freighters with his father; star-drive conversion was nosurprise to him.

  But for Jack and Tiger, it was their first experience in a star-driveship. The _Lancet_'s pi
loting and navigation were entirely automatic;its destination was simply coded into the drive computers, and the shipwas ready to leap across light years of space in a matter of hours. Butthe conversion to star-drive, as the _Lancet_ was wrenched, crew andall, out of the normal space-time continuum, was far outside of normalhuman experience. The physical and emotional shock of the conversion hitJack and Tiger like a sledge hammer, and during the long hours while theship was traveling through the time-less, distance-less universe of thedrive to the pre-set co-ordinates where it materialized again intoconventional space-time, the Earthmen were retching violently, too sickto budge from the bunk room. It took over two weeks, with stops at halfa dozen contract planets, before Jack and Tiger began to adjustthemselves to the frightening and confusing sensations of conversion tostar-drive. During this time Dal carried the load of the ship's workalone, while the others lay gasping and exhausted in their bunks, tryingto rally strength for the next shift.

  To his horror, Dal discovered that the first planetary stop-over wastraditionally a hazing stop. It had been a well-kept patrol secret; theoutpost clinic on Tempera VI was waiting eagerly for the arrival of thenew "green" crew, knowing full well that the doctors aboard would hardlybe able to stumble out of their bunks, much less to cope with medicalproblems. The outpost men had concocted a medical "crisis" of staggeringproportions to present to the _Lancet_'s crew; they were so clearlydisappointed to find the ship's Red Doctor in full command of himselfthat Dal obligingly became violently ill too, and did his best to mimickJack and Tiger's floundering efforts to pull themselves together and do_something_ about the "problem" that suddenly descended upon them.

  Later, there was a party and celebration, with music and food, as theclinic staff welcomed the pale and shaken doctors into the joke. Theoutpost men plied Dal for the latest news from Hospital Earth. They weresurprised to see a Garvian aboard the _Lancet_, but no one at theoutpost showed any sign of resentment at the scarlet braid on Dal'scollar and cuff.

  Slowly Jack and Tiger got used to the peculiarities of popping in andout of hyperspace. It was said that immunity to star-drive sickness washard to acquire, but lasted a lifetime, and would never again botherthem once it was achieved. Bit by bit the Earthmen crept out of theirshells, to find the ship in order and a busy Dal Timgar relieved andhappy to have them aboard again.

  Fortunately, the medical problems that came to the _Lancet_ in the firstfew weeks were largely routine. The ship stopped at the specifiedcontact points--some far out near the rim of the galacticconstellation, others in closer to the densely star-populated center. Ateach outpost clinic the _Lancet_ was welcomed with open arms. Theoutpost men were hungry for news from home, and happy to see freshsupplies; but they were also glad to review the current medical problemson their planets with the new doctors, exchanging opinions and arguingdiagnosis and therapy into the small hours of the night.

  Occasionally calls came in to the ship from contract planets in need ofhelp. Usually the problems were easy to handle. On Singall III, a tinyplanet of a cooling giant star, help was needed to deal with a newoutbreak of a smallpox-like plague that had once decimated thepopulation; the disease had finally been controlled after a HospitalEarth research team had identified the organism that caused it,determined its molecular structure, and synthesized an antibiotic thatcould destroy it without damaging the body of the host. But now aflareup had occurred. The _Lancet_ brought in supplies of theantibiotic, and Tiger Martin spent two days showing Singallesephysicians how to control further outbreaks with modern methods ofimmunization and antisepsis.

  Another planet called for a patrol ship when a bridge-building disasteroccurred; one of the beetle-like workmen had been badly crushed under amassive steel girder. Dal spent over eighteen hours straight with thepatient in the _Lancet_'s surgery, carefully repairing the creature'sdamaged exoskeleton and grafting new segments of bone for regenerationof the hopelessly ruined parts, with Tiger administering anaesthesia andJack preparing the grafts from the freezer.

  On another planet Jack faced his first real diagnostic challenge and metthe test with flying colors. Here a new cancer-like degenerative diseasehad been appearing among the natives of the planet. It had never beforebeen noted. Initial attempts to find a causative agent had all three ofthe _Lancet_'s crew spending sleepless nights for a week, but Jack'scareful study of the pattern of the disease and the biochemicalreactions that accompanied it brought out the answer: the disease wascaused by a rare form of genetic change which made crippling alterationsin an essential enzyme system. Knowing this, Tiger quickly found a drugwhich could be substituted for the damaged enzyme, and the problem wassolved. They left the planet, assuring the planetary government thatlaboratories on Hospital Earth would begin working at once to find a wayactually to rebuild the damaged genes in the embryonic cells, and thusput a permanent end to the disease.

  These were routine calls, the kind of ordinary general medical work thatthe patrol ships were expected to handle. But the visits to the variousplanets were welcome breaks in the pattern of patrol ship life. The_Lancet_ was fully equipped, but her crew's quarters and living spacewere cramped. Under the best conditions, the crewmen on patrol ships goton each other's nerves; on the _Lancet_ there was an additional focus oftension that grew worse with every passing hour.

  From the first Jack Alvarez had made no pretense of pleasure at Dal'scompany, but now it seemed that he deliberately sought opportunities toannoy him. The thin Blue Doctor's face set into an angry mold wheneverDal was around. He would get up and leave when Dal entered the controlroom, and complained loudly and bitterly at minor flaws in Dal'sshipboard work. Nothing Dal did seemed to please him.

  But Tiger had a worse time controlling himself at the Blue Doctor's digsand slights than Dal did. "It's like living in an armed camp," hecomplained one night when Jack had stalked angrily out of the bunkroom. "Can't even open your mouth without having him jump down yourthroat."

  "I know," Dal said.

  "And he's doing it on purpose."

  "Maybe so. But it won't help to lose your temper."

  Tiger clenched a huge fist and slammed it into his palm. "He's justdeliberately picking at you and picking at you," he said. "You can'ttake that forever. Something's got to break."

  "It's all right," Dal assured him. "I just ignore it."

  But when Jack began to shift his attack to Fuzzy, Dal could ignore it nolonger.

  One night in the control room Jack threw down the report he was writingand turned angrily on Dal. "Tell your friend there to turn the other waybefore I lose my temper and splatter him all over the wall," he said,pointing to Fuzzy. "All he does is sit there and stare at me and I'mgetting fed up with it."

  Fuzzy drew himself up tightly, shivering on Dal's shoulder. Dal reachedup and stroked the tiny creature, and Fuzzy's shoe-button eyesdisappeared completely. "There," Dal said. "Is that better?"

  Jack stared at the place the eyes had been, and his face darkenedsuspiciously. "Well, what happened to them?" he demanded.

  "What happened to what?"

  "To his eyes, you idiot!"

  Dal looked down at Fuzzy. "I don't see any eyes."

  Jack jumped up from the stool. He scowled at Fuzzy as if commanding theeyes to come back again. All he saw was a small ball of pink fur. "Look,he's been blinking them at me for a week," he snarled. "I thought allalong there was something funny about him. Sometimes he's got legs andsometimes he hasn't. Sometimes he looks fuzzy, and other times he hasn'tgot any hair at all."

  "He's a pleomorph," Dal said. "No cellular structure at all, just aprotein-colloid matrix."

  Jack glowered at the inert little pink lump. "Don't be silly," he said,curious in spite of himself. "What holds him together?"

  "Who knows? I don't. Some kind of electro-chemical cohesive force. Theonly reason he has 'eyes' is because he thinks I want him to have eyes.If you don't like it, he won't have them any more."

  "Well, that's very obliging," Jack said. "But why do you keep himaround? What good
does he do you, anyhow? All he does is eat and drinkand sleep."

  "Does he have to do something?" Dal said evasively. "He isn't botheringyou. Why pick on him?"

  "He just seems to worry you an awful lot," Jack said unpleasantly."Let's see him a minute." He reached out for Fuzzy, then jerked hisfinger back with a yelp. Blood dripped from the finger tip.

  Jack's face slowly went white. "Why, he--he _bit_ me!"

  "Yes, and you're lucky he didn't take a finger off," Dal said, tremblingwith anger. "He doesn't like you any more than I do, and you'll get bitevery time you come near him, so you'd better keep your hands toyourself."

  "Don't worry," Jack Alvarez said, "he won't get another chance. You canjust get rid of him."

  "Not a chance," Dal said. "You leave him alone and he won't bother you,that's all. And the same thing goes for me."

  "If he isn't out of here in twelve hours, I'll get a warrant," Jack saidtightly. "There are laws against keeping dangerous pets on patrolships."

  Somewhere in the main corridor an alarm bell began buzzing. For amoment Dal and Jack stood frozen, glaring at each other. Then the doorburst open and Tiger Martin's head appeared. "Hey, you two, let's getmoving! We've got a call coming in, and it looks like a tough one. Comeon back here!"

  They headed back toward the radio room. The signal was coming throughfrantically as Tiger reached for the pile of punched tape running out onthe floor. But as they crowded into the radio room, Dal felt Jack's handon his arm. "If you think I was fooling, you're wrong," the Blue Doctorsaid through his teeth. "You've got twelve hours to get rid of him."