Jack looked grimly at Tiger and Dal. "Well," he said, "I guess that
answers our question, all right. It looks as if we have a plague planet
on our hands, whether we like it or not."




CHAPTER 9

THE INCREDIBLE PEOPLE


Slowly and patiently they drew the story from the emissary from the
seventh planet of 31 Brucker.

The small, monkey-like creature was painfully shy; he required constant
reassurance that the doctors did not mind being called, that they wanted
to help, and that a contract was not necessary in an emergency. Even at
that the spokesman was reluctant to give details about the plague and
about his stricken people. Every bit of information had to be extracted
with patient questioning.

By tacit consent the doctors did not even mention the strange fact that
this very planet had been explored by a Confederation ship eight hundred
years before and no sign of intelligent life had been found. The little
creature before them seemed ready to turn and bolt at the first hint of
attack or accusation. But bit by bit, a picture of the current situation
on the planet developed.