It was bitter medicine for Blue Doctor Jack Alvarez to swallow, but that
fact gave no pleasure to Dal or Tiger now. They were as baffled as Jack
was, and would have welcomed help from anyone who could offer it.

And, ironically, the first glimpse of the truth came from the direction
they least expected.

From the very beginning Fuzzy had been watching the proceedings from his
perch on the swinging platform in the control room. If he sensed that
Dal Timgar was ignoring him and leaving him to his own devices much of
the time, he showed no sign of resentment. The tiny creature seemed to
realize that something important was consuming his master's energy and
attention, and contented himself with an affectionate pat now and then
as Dal went through the control room. Everyone assumed without much
thought that Fuzzy was merely being tolerant of the situation. It was
not until they had finally given up in desperation and Tiger was trying
to contact a Hospital Ship for help, that Dal stared up at his little
pink friend with a puzzled frown.

Tiger put the transmitter down for a moment. "What's wrong?" he said to
Dal. "You look as though you just bit into a rotten apple."

"I just remembered that I haven't fed him for twenty-four hours," Dal
said.

"Who? Fuzzy?" Tiger shrugged. "He could see you were busy."

Dal shook his head. "That wouldn't make any difference to Fuzzy. When he
gets hungry, he gets hungry, and he's pretty self-centered. It wouldn't
matter what I was doing, he should have been screaming for food hours