Aldebaran's massive sixteenth planet.

All about the field were physicians supervising the process of
disembarcation, resplendent in the colors that signified their medical
specialties. At the foot of the landing crane a Three-star Internist in
the green cape of the Medical Service--obviously the commander of the
ship--was talking with the welcoming dignitaries of Hospital Earth.
Half a dozen doctors in the Blue Service of Diagnosis were checking new
lab supplies ready to be loaded aboard. Three young Star Surgeons swung
by just below Dal with their bright scarlet capes fluttering in the
breeze, headed for customs and their first Earthside liberty in months.
Dal watched them go by, and felt the sick, bitter feeling in the pit of
his stomach that he had felt so often in recent months.

He had dreamed, once, of wearing the scarlet cape of the Red Service of
Surgery too, with the silver star of the Star Surgeon on his collar.
That had been a long time ago, over eight Earth years ago; the dream had
faded slowly, but now the last vestige of hope was almost gone. He
thought of the long years of intensive training he had just completed in
the medical school of Hospital Philadelphia, the long nights of studying
for exams, the long days spent in the laboratories and clinics in order
to become a physician of Hospital Earth, and a wave of bitterness swept
through his mind.

_A dream_, he thought hopelessly, _a foolish idea and nothing more. They
knew before I started that they would never let me finish. They had no
intention of doing so, it just amused them to watch me beat my head on a
stone wall for these eight years._ But then he shook his head and felt a
little ashamed of the thought. It wasn't quite true, and he knew it. He
had known that it was a gamble from the very first. Black Doctor