like to me."
"Mm. I know." Jenkins felt sick. Stone headed up to the path lab,leaving the Red Doctor settled in his bunk.
Ten minutes later Jenkins sat bolt upright in the darkness. Franticallyhe untied himself and slid into his clothes. "Idiot!" he growled tohimself. "Seventh son of a seventh son--"
Five minutes later he was staring at the vats in Hrunta's laboratory. Hefound the one he was looking for. A pink blob of _hlorg_ wiggled slowlyaround the bottom.
Jenkins drew a beaker of distilled water and added it to the fluid inthe vat. It hissed and sputtered and sent up quantities of acrid steam.When the steam had cleared away, Jenkins peered in eagerly.
The pink thing in the bottom was turning a sickly violet. It had quitwiggling. As Jenkins watched, the violet color changed to mud grey, thento black. He prodded it with a stirring rod. There was no response.
With a whoop Jenkins buzzed Bowman and Stone. "We've got it!" he shoutedto them when they appeared. "Look! Look at it!"
Bowman poked and probed and broke into a wide grin. The piece of _hlorg_was truly and sincerely dead. "It inactivates the enzyme system, andrenders the base protoplasm vulnerable to anything that normally attacksit. What are we waiting for?"
They began tearing the laboratory apart, searching for the rightbottles. The supply was discouragingly small, but there was some instock. The three of them raced down the corridor for the hold where the_hlorg_ was.
It took them three hours of angry work to exhaust the supply. Theywhittled chunks off the _hlorg_, tossed them in pans of the deadlyfluid. With each slice they stopped momentarily to watch it turn violet,then black, as it died. The _hlorg_, dwindling in size, sensed theattack and slapped frantically at their ankles, sending out angry plumesof wet jelly, but they ducked and dodged and whittled some more. The_hlorg_ quivered and gurgled and wept pinkish goo all over the floor,but it grew smaller and weaker with every whack.
"Hrunta must have spotted it and come down here alone," Jenkins pantedbetween slices. "Maybe he slipped, lost his footing, I don't know--"
They continued to work until the supply was exhausted. They had reducedthe _hlorg_ to a quarter its previous size. "Check the other labs, seeif they have some more," said Stone.
"I already have," Bowman said. "They don't. This is it."
"But we haven't got it all killed. There's still--" He pointed to thething quailing in the corner.
"I know. We're licked, that's all. There isn't any more of the stuff onthe ship."
They stopped and looked at each other suddenly. Then Jenkins said: "Oh,yes there is."
There was silence. Bowman looked at Stone, and Stone looked at Bowman.They both looked at Jenkins. "Oh, no. Sorry. I decline." Stone shook hishead slowly.
"But we have to! There's no other way. If the enzyme system isinactivated, it's just protoplasm--there's no physiological orbiochemical reason--"
"You know what you can do with your physiology and biochemistry," Bowmansaid succinctly. "You can also count me out." He left them and thehatchway clanged after him.
"Wally?"
"Yeah."
"It'll be months before we get back to Hospital Earth. We know how wecan hold it in check until we get there."
"Yeah."
"Well?"
Green Doctor Wally Stone sighed. "Greater love hath no man," he saidwearily. "We'd better go tell Neelsen, I guess."
* * * * *
Black Doctor Turvold Neelsen's answer was a flat, unequivocal no. "It'smonstrous and preposterous. I won't stand for it. Nobody will stand forit."
"But you have the proof in your own hands," Jenkins said. "You saw thespecimen that the Green Doctor brought you."
Neelsen hunched back angrily. "I saw it."
"And your impression of it? As a pathologist?"
"I fail to see how my impression applies one way or the other--"
"Doctor, sometimes we have to face facts. Remember?"
"All right." Neelsen seemed to curl up into himself still further. "Thespecimen was stomach."
"Human stomach?"
"Human stomach."
"But the only human on this ship that doesn't have a stomach is Hrunta,"said Jenkins.
"So the _hlorg_ ate him."
"_Most_ of him. Not quite all. It threw out the one part of him itcouldn't eat. The part containing a substance that inactivated itsenzyme system. Dilute hydrochloric acid, to be specific. We used theentire ship's supply, and cut the _hlorg_ down to three-quarters size,but we need a continuous supply to keep it whittled down until we gethome. And there's only one good, permanent, reliable source of dilutehydrochloric acid on board this ship--"
The Black Doctor's face was purple. "I said no," he choked. "My answerstands."
The Red Doctor sighed and turned to Green Doctor Stone. "All right,Wally," he said.
* * * * *
(_From the files of the Medical Disciplinary Board, Hospital Earth, op.cit._)
I am certain that you can see from the foregoing that a reasonableeffort was made by Green Doctor Stone and myself to put the plan ineffect peaceably and with full approval of our commander. It was ourconviction, however, that the emergency nature of the circumstancesrequired that it be done with or without his approval. Our subsequentsuccess in containing the _hlorg_ to at least reasonable and manageableproportions should bear out the wisdom of our decision.
Actually, it has not been as bad as one might think. It has beennecessary to confine the crew to their quarters, and to restrain theBlack Doctor forcibly, but with liberal use of Happy-O we canoccasionally convince ourselves that it is rare beefsteak, and the GreenDoctor, our pro-tem cook has concocted several very tasty sauces, suchas mushroom, onion, etc. We reduce the _hlorg_ to half its size eachday, and if thoroughly heated the chunks lie still on the plate forquite some time.
No physical ill effects have been noted, and the period of quarantine isrecommended solely to allow the men an adequate period for psychologicalrecovery.
I have only one further recommendation: that the work team from the GreyService be recalled at once from their assignment on Mauki IV. Theproblem is decidedly not psychiatric, and it would be one of thetragedies of the ages if our excellent psychiatric service were tosucceed in persuading the Maukivi out of their 'delusion'.
After all, Hospital Earth cannot afford to jeopardize a Contract--
(Signed) Samuel B. Jenkins, Physician Grade VI Red Service GPP Ship _Lancet_ (Attached GSS _Mercy_ pro tem)
END
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _If: Worlds of Science Fiction_ February 1958. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.
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