The grid operator stared at him numbly. He was deathly pale. He did not seem able to grasp what Calhoun had said. * * * * * [Illustration] "I've got to do some work on the para condition," Calhoun told him. "I need to be undisturbed in the ship, and I need a patient further along toward being a para than I am. It'll save time. If you'll help, we may be able to beat the thing. If not, I've still got to disable the grid." The grid operator said in a savage, unhuman voice: "I'm a para. I'm trying to spray everything I've touched. Then I'm going to go off somewhere and kill myself--" Calhoun drew his blaster. He adjusted it again to non-lethal intensity. "Good man!" he said approvingly. "I'll have a similar job to do if I'm not a better medical man than Lett! Will you help me?" Murgatroyd sneezed again. He said plaintively: "_Chee!_" The grid's operator looked down at him, obviously in a state of shock. No ordinary sight or sound could have gotten through to his consciousness. But Murgatroyd was a small, furry animal with long whiskers and a hirsute tail and a habit of imitating the actions of humans. He sneezed yet again and looked up. There was a handkerchief in Calhoun's pocket. Murgatroyd dragged it out and held it to his face. He sneezed once more and said, "_Chee!_" and returned the handkerchief to its place. He regarded the grid operator disapprovingly. The operator was shocked out of his despair. He said shakenly: "What the devil--" Then he stared at Calhoun. "Help you? How can I help anybody? I'm a para!" "Which," said Calhoun, "is just what I need. I'm Med Service, man! I've got a job to do with what they call an epidemic! I need a para who's willing to be cured! That's you! Let's get this grid fixed so it can't work and--" There was a succession of loud clicks from a speaker unit on the wall. It was an emergency-wave, unlocking the speaker from its Off position. Then a voice: "_All citizens attention! The Planetary President is about to give you good news about the end of the para epidemic!_" A pause. Then a grave and trembling voice came out of the speakers: