Jack's shoulders; he was the diagnostician, and Dal and Tiger willingly
yielded to him in organizing the program.

It was decided that Jack and Tiger would visit the planet's surface at
once, while Dal stayed on the ship and set up the reagents and
examining techniques that would be needed to measure the basic physical
and biochemical characteristics of the Bruckians.

Yet in all the excitement of planning, Dal could not throw off the
lingering shadow of doubt in his mind, some instinctive voice of caution
that seemed to say _watch out, be careful, go slowly! This may not be
what it seems to be; you may be walking into a trap...._

But it was only a faint voice, and easy to thrust aside as the planning
went ahead full speed.

* * * * *

It did not take very long for the crew of the _Lancet_ to realize that
there was something very odd indeed about the small, self-effacing
inhabitants of 31 Brucker VII.

In fact, "odd" was not really quite the proper word for these creatures
at all. No one knew better than the doctors of Hospital Earth that
oddness was the rule among the various members of the galactic
civilization. All sorts and varieties of life-forms had been discovered,
described and studied, each with its singular differences, each with
certain similarities, and each quite "odd" in reference to any of the
others.