Forth looked shocked as he realized that the younger man meant what he was saying. He said, "Galactic center would have to rule on whether they're dumb animals or intelligent non-humans, and whether they're entitled to the status of a civilization. All precedent on Darkover is toward recognizing them as men--and good God, Jay, you'd probably be called as a witness for the defense! How can you say they're not human after your experience with them? Anyway, by the time their status was finally decided, half of the recognizable humans on Darkover would be dead. We need a better solution than that." He pushed his chair back and looked out the window. "I won't go into the political situation," he said, "you aren't interested in Terran Empire politics, and I'm no expert either. But you'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know that Darkover's been playing the immovable object to the irresistible force. The Darkovans are more advanced in some of the non-causative sciences than we are, and until now, they wouldn't admit that Terra had a thing to contribute. However--and this is the big however--they do know, and they're willing to admit, that our medical sciences are better than theirs." "Theirs being practically non-existent." "Exactly--and this could be the first crack in the barrier. You may not realize the significance of this, but the Legate received an offer from the Hasturs themselves." Jay Allison murmured, "I'm to be impressed?" "On Darkover you'd damn well better be impressed when the Hasturs sit up and take notice." "I understand they're telepaths or something--" "Telepaths, psychokinetics, parapsychs, just about anything else. For all practical purposes they're the Gods of Darkover. And one of the Hasturs--a rather young and unimportant one, I'll admit, the old man's grandson--came to the Legate's office, in person, mind you. He offered, if the Terran Medical would help Darkover lick the trailmen's fever, to coach selected Terran men in matrix mechanics." "Good Lord," Jay said. It was a concession beyond Terra's wildest dreams; for a hundred years they had tried to beg, buy or steal some knowledge of the mysterious science of matrix mechanics--that curious discipline which could turn matter into raw energy, and vice versa, without any intermediate stages and without fission by-products. Matrix mechanics had made the Darkovans virtually immune to the lure of Terra's advanced technologies. Jay said, "Personally I think Darkovan science is over-rated. But I can see the propaganda angle--" "Not to mention the humanitarian angle of healing--" * * * * * Jay Allison gave one of his cold shrugs. "The real angle seems to be this; _can_ we cure the 48-year fever?"