pale. All about Calhoun men looked sick and shocked and terrified. "It
was the blueskins! We'll have to teach them a lesson!" Then he turned
to Calhoun. "The volunteer who went on that ship--he'll have to stay
there, won't he? He can't be brought back to Weald without bringing
contagion."

Calhoun raged at him.

* * * * *




2


There was a certain coldness in the manner of those at the Weald
spaceport when the Med Ship left next morning. Calhoun was not popular
because Weald was scared. It had been conditioned to scare easily,
where blueskins might be involved. Its children were trained to react
explosively when the word _blueskin_ was uttered in their hearing, and
its adults tended to say it when anything causing uneasiness entered
their minds. So a planet-wide habit of irrational response had formed
and was not seen to be irrational because almost everybody had it.

The volunteer who'd discovered the tragedy on the ship from Orede was
safe, though. He'd made a completely conscientious survey of the ship
he'd volunteered to enter and examine. For his courage, he'd have been
doomed but for Calhoun.