Jerry, blinking his eyes against the sudden onslaught of light in the room as the tech threw the wall switch, stared blearily at the paper for a moment, blank and disoriented. "It's the picture, sir," Bob said, recognizing the bafflement on his superior's face for what it was. "I finally had the bright idea of turning the problem over to the brain, aboard the ship. It followed the specifications from the tape by drawing the picture in periods." "In what periods?" Jerry mumbled, still trying to come awake. "Not time-periods, sir. Punctuation. Then, when it had the thing done, on a ten-by-fourteen-inch sheet of feed-paper from its roller, I had the ship's photographer take a snapshot and reduce it in size, so it looks at least as good as the average newspaper half-tone job." Jerry nodded, absorbing the information even as his eyes crept over the image in his hands. "Looks strangely familiar," he said, studying it closely. "If you'll pardon what sounds like a gag, sir," began the tech, "I think that the picture--in fact, we all think--" "Yes?" said Jerry, looking at the man. "Well, the consensus among the crew was that this baby here looks a hell of a lot like _you_, sir." Jerry sat where he was, his eyes on Bob's face, for a long moment, as fingers of ice took hold of his spine. Then, with unreasoning apprehension, he turned his gaze back upon the near-photographic likeness he held. "Ensign," he said, after a minute. "This _is_ a picture of me." "But sir, it can't be," said the tech. "You're wrong," said Jerry, letting the paper drop to the floor. "It can be, because it is. And all at once I think I know why." Without warning, Jerry swung his legs over the side of the couch and jumped to his feet. "Listen," he said urgently, "there's no time to lose. Get the hospital staff together, fast, and bring me back their best psyche-man. I need a hypnotist." "A h-hyp--?" the tech blurted, confused, then gave an obedient nod and hurried out, shaking his head all the way to the switch-board. * * * * * "Never mind _why_, Doctor. Can you _do_ it? That's all I care to know," Jerry's voice crackled, his eyes flashing with authority. "Y-Yes, I think so," quavered the other man. "If you _can_ be hypnotized, I mean." "All Space Zoologists have the brainpower necessary to be perfect subjects," Jerry snapped. "Quickly, now, Doctor. I've wasted one Contact already." "Very well, sir," said the man. "If you'll lie back, now, and make your mind blank--" "I know, I know! Get _on_ with it, will you!" Bob and Jana stood back in the shadows beside the towering metal control board, listening in silence as the hypnotist put Jerry under, deeper and deeper, until his mind was readily suggestible. Then he made the statements Jerry had told him to make, and with a snap of his fingers brought the zoologist out of hypnosis. "You heard, Ensign?" asked Jerry. "Did he do exactly as I told him to?" "Sir!" protested the doctor.