Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: Illustrated by Ed Emsh] CONTAMINATION CREW BY ALAN E. NOURSE _Orders were orders! The creature had to be killed. But just how does one destroy the indestructible?_ (_The following is taken from the files of the Medical Disciplinary Board, Hospital Earth, from the preliminary hearings in re: The Profession vs. Samuel B. Jenkins, Physician; First Court of Medical Affairs, final action pending._) COM COD S221VB73 VOROCHISLOV SECTOR; 4th GALACTIC PERIOD 22, 2341 GENERAL SURVEY SHIP MERCY TO HOSPITAL EARTH VIA: FASTEST POSSIBLE ROUTING, PRIORITY UNASSIGNED TO: Lucius Darby, Physician Grade I, Black Service Director of Galactic Periphery Services, Hospital Earth FROM: Samuel B. Jenkins, Physician Grade VI, Red Service General Practice Patrol Ship _Lancet_ (Attached GSS _Mercy_ pro tem) SIR: The following communication is directed to your attention in hopes that it may anticipate various charges which are certain to be placed against me as a Physician of the Red Service upon the return of the General Survey Ship _Mercy_ to Hospital Earth (expected arrival four months from above date). These charges will undoubtedly be preferred by one Turvold Neelsen, Physician Grade II of the Black Service, and Commander of the _Mercy_ on its current survey mission into the Vorochislov Sector. Exactly what the charges will be I cannot say, since the Black Doctor in question refuses either audience or communication with me at the present time; however, it seems likely that treason, incompetence and mutinous insubordination will be among the milder complaints registered. It is possible that even Malpractice might be added, so you can readily understand the reasons for this statement-- The following will also clarify my attached request that the GSS _Mercy_, upon arrival in orbit around Hospital Earth, be met immediately by a decontamination ship carrying a vat of hydrochloric acid, concentration 3.7%, measuring no less than twenty by thirty by fifty feet, and that Quarantine officials be prepared to place the entire crew of the _Mercy_ under physical and psychiatric observation for a period of no less than six weeks upon disembarkation. The facts, in brief, are as follows: