"It's--horrible!" he said thickly. "Horrible!" Then his jaw dropped. "I'm not a para! Not ... a para--" Then he said fiercely. "We've got to get this thing started! We've got to start curing paras--" "Who," said Calhoun, "will be ashamed of what they remember. We can't get co-operation form them! And we can't get co-operation from the government! The men who were the government are paras and they've given their authority to Dr. Lett. You don't think he'll abdicate, do you? Especially when it's realized that he was the man who developed the strain of scavengers that secrete this modified butyl mercaptan that turns men into paras!" Calhoun grinned almost hysterically. "Maybe it was an accident. Maybe he found himself the first para and was completely astonished. But he couldn't be alone in what he knew was--degradation. He wanted others with him in that ghastly state. He got them. Then he didn't want anybody not to be like himself.... We can't get help from him!" Exultantly, he flipped switches to show on vision screens what went on in the world outside the ship. He turned on all the receivers that could pick up sounds and broadcasts. Voices came in: "_There's fighting everywhere! Normals won't accept paras among them! Paras won't leave normals alone.... They touch them; breathe on them--and laugh! There's fighting--_" The notion that the para state was contagious was still cherished by paras. It was to be preferred to the notion that they were possessed by devils. But there were some who gloried in the more dramatic opinion. There were screamings on the air, suddenly, and a man's voice panting: "_Send police here fast! The paras have gone wild. They're--_" Calhoun seated himself at the control desk. He threw switches there. He momentarily touched a button. There was a slight shock and the beginning of a roar outside. It cut off. Calhoun looked at the vision plates showing outside. There was swirling smoke and steam. There were men running in headlong flight, leaving their ground cars behind them. "A slight touch of emergency rocket," said Calhoun. "They've run away. Now we end the plague on Tallien Three." The grid operator was still dazed by the continued absence of any indication that he might ever become a para. He said unsteadily: "Sure! Sure! But how?" "Wood smoke," said Calhoun. "Emergency rockets. Roofs! There's been no wood smoke in the air on this planet because there are no forest fires and people don't burn fuel. They use electricity. So we start the largest production of wood smoke that we find convenient, and the population of a certain modified butyl mercaptan molecule will be reduced. Down to a normal level. Immediately!" The emergency rocket bellowed thunderously and the little Med Ship rose. * * * * *