"Dying?" Ruut murmured incredulously. "But that's impossible unless the Council orders him to destroy himself. Why--why that would make him just like an animal." "That's what it is," Curl insisted. Ordinarily, Tensor would have been somewhat interested to know about this strange process that was taking place within his body, but the nego kept his mind dull and unconcerned. He did not even question for reasons. Ruut, however, did, and the physician happily explained. "You just have never been concerned with these rare symptoms, my dear administrator. You see, actually we are animals in a sense. We don't die like them, but if we are not in a focus we could be killed through some accidental injury. The principal difference between us and the small animals that occasionally cause Prime trouble with his landscaping is control. They have no control over their endocrine systems. We have." "Of course," Ruut said. "I know that." "Ah, but perhaps you don't know that our race at one time had no more control over our endocrine systems than those little animals. "There are a lot of ways to account for the change, and it makes very fascinating discussion because it's absolutely unimportant. However, under such conditions, a human being would automatically reach a certain stable level of development. But then, after an incredibly short time, the essential chaos within its body due to lack of endocrine control causes it to deteriorate. Eventually it is no longer capable of sustaining life and it dies." The physician moved his hands in an awkward but eloquent gesture. "And that's all there is to it." "Oh," Ruut murmured in an awed tone, not even comprehending the extent of the disease but trying to accept the staggering idea of natural death. "Can't you do anything for him?" Curl turned his attention casually back to the sick man again. "Possibly. Dying, of course, is not a disease in itself, but merely a symptom of one." He shook his head. "I certainly wish I could examine him directly without getting involved in a major social crisis." "Oh, Prime would be furious," Ruut warned. "No doubt. Well--he said that this started six months ago. Now what could have happened six months ago?" "The aliens," Ruut said flatly. "That's what caused it." "Oh, come now, Ruut," Curl said amusedly. "Don't be superstitious. What connection could these--these aliens possibly have?" "Well, that's when the Council clamped down on them. Something funny about the way they did that, too." "Not at all funny," Curl told him in a superior tone of voice. "It is simply that the aliens appeared to be of a higher type of animal class without communication. Surely you wouldn't want to have anything to do with such contradictory beings." "Of course not. But Tensor got sick right after he visited them." "He went to visit them?" Curl was pensive a moment, and his eyes lighted up. "In that case, Ruut, there may be some connection after all." Ruut nodded without speaking.