"The body is allowed to sense an accumulation of heat, which finally triggers the sweat glands into producing a slight oversupply of skin moisture. The moving, dry air then evaporates this perspiration which continues to flow a brief period _after_ optimum sensation is reached. Thus, the body begins to experience the first sensation of chill--even though the temperature of the air remains at 98.6 degrees. At this point, the reaction lag expires and the perspiration stops, the body is warmed as if bathed in hotter air again. "This gentle oscillation between sensations of warmth and coolness has a very pleasant secondary effect, you will find. The varying temperature of your skin is too slight to be dangerous, yet it breaks the tactile monotony which nine months of unchanging climate would bring." Pauker's teeth chattered together as the chill swept over him. This is all very goddamned neat when it works, he thought miserably, but how do you turn off the sweat? His body had long since passed the comfort point, yet the sweat was still flooding from his pores, and the gentle zephyr from the air-conditioning seemed more like an autumn gale with a tang of winter in it. Chills ran his vertical length and radiated from his spine. Worse yet, as the paralysis drug took effect, he was even robbed of the pleasure of shivering. The chatter of his teeth stopped, but the swirling dankness flowed through his body unchecked. The girl's voice paused a moment. "We are now entering maximum acceleration phase. It is suggested that you concentrate on sleep. We will continue the discussion when we reach free-flight." Pauker gratefully tried to sink into the promised, narcotic slumber as his mattress became firmer and firmer under him, but it was long, miserable, frozen minutes before the ship's motion came to his aid and blacked him out. Free-flight! * * * * * He snapped to consciousness and instantly recoiled from the discomfort. To his surprise it wasn't the cold, now, but a dry, throat-rasping, all-pervading heat that almost suffocated him. Sometime during his unconsciousness his body had overtaken the thermal adjustment lag and turned off the perspiration. Now he felt the ravages of an uncontrolled fever. His mind wandered and refused to admit him to the promised dream-state again. He thought he heard a voice. Yes, there was a voice, the voice of the woman again. "We are in free-flight," she announced with cheerful redundancy. "Now you will begin to enjoy the full benefits of the rhythmic thermal changes, since you are all floating freely under the loose bindings of your couches. As we were discussing, the drug which--"