plague, we said. And some of us believed it!"

The doctor's tone was purest irony.

"Lately," he said, "there's been a move for economy in our government.
Simultaneously, we began to have a series of overabundant crops. The
government had to buy the excess grain to keep the price up. Retired
patrol ships, built to watch over Dara, were available for storage
space. We filled them up with grain and sent them out into orbit.
They're there now, hundreds of thousands or millions of tons of
grain!"

"And Dara?"

The doctor shrugged. He stood up.

"Our hatred of Dara," he said, again ironically, "has produced one
thing. Roughly halfway between here and Dara there's a two-planet
solar system, Orede. There's a usable planet there. It was proposed to
build an outpost of Weald there, against blueskins. Cattle were landed
to run wild and multiply and make a reason for colonists to settle
there.

"They did, but nobody wants to move near to blueskins! So Orede stayed
uninhabited until a hunting party, shooting wild cattle, found an
outcropping of heavy-metal ore. So now there's a mine there. And
that's all. A few hundred men work the mine at fabulous wages. You may
be asked to check on their health. But not Dara's!"

"I see," said Calhoun, frowning.