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around him protectively. Its bunk felt soft and comfortable.
Cranston was standing by the cooking unit.
"Do you think you could eat something?" he asked, looking worriedly at Dan.
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Dan realized he was sitting on one of the bunks, slouched against the curving wall of the shelter.
"Yeh. ..sure." Every muscle ached. His head throbbed horribly. His mouth felt dry and caked with dust.
Glancing down at his legs, he saw that Cranston had taken off the bottom half of his suit, as well as his
helmet.
"There was a bad dent on the left leg of the suit," the computerman said. "I was worried that your own
leg might've been hurt. It's bruised pretty bad, but I don't think it's anything worse than that."
"When ..." Dan tried to lick his lips, but his tongue was dry. He croaked, "When did you.. .come into the
shelter?"
Cranston flashed him a guilty glance, then turned his attention to the cooker. "Uh...I tried calling you on
the radio... no answer. I didn't know what was happening. Then... uh, the tent... it looked like it was
going to collapse___"
"It did," Dan said wearily. "You did the best thing."
"Oh... okay..." He smiled, still looking slightly guilty.
Dr. Hsai's quarters looked like pictures of Japanese homes that Valery had seen on the education tapes.
The compartment was no bigger than any other single man's quarters. But it looked different. There were
living green vines climbing along one wall, reaching upward to the ceiling light panels. A painting filled part
of the same wall, showing soft
green hills and a river with a delicate bridge arching over it. The vines seemed to blend into the picture,
the two merged and became a single experience. The bunk was austere, hard-looking, but a beautiful red
drape hung beside it. There was no other furniture visible, except two little pillows on the floor and a
low-slung black lacquered table.
Dr. Hsai himself was dressed in a loose-fitting robe of black and white, with just a hint of gold thread at
the collar.
"What a beautiful robe!" Valery said, despite herself, as Dr. Hsai ushered her into his quarters.
"Thank you very much." The psychotech smiled pleasantly. "It belonged to my great-grandfather and has
been handed down through four generations."
"It's very lovely."
He smiled again and bowed ever so slightly. "I am afraid," he said, "that I have no western furniture for
you to sit upon. I usually receive visitors in the office of the infirmary. But you seemed so insistent "
"I can sit on the floor," Val said. She curled up next to the bunk.
Dr. Hsai offered her one of the pillows, and Val put it behind the small of her back, then leaned against
the edge of the bunk.
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"You wish to ask me a medical question?" Dr. Hsai inquired, sitting in the middle of the tiny room.
"A psychological question," Val replied.
He nodded. "I might have guessed. Unfortunately, my knowledge of psychiatry is far from expert,
although I have been studying the available tapes on the subject very carefully these past few weeks."
"Why?" Val asked. "Do you think there's a killer aboard the ship, too?"
Hsai smiled patiently. "Not at all. At least, I hope not. But certain individuals believe that there might be a
killer among us, and I am trying to pin down the origins of these fears."
"There have been these... accidents."
"Yes."
"Including my father."
"Yes."
Valery was starting to feel uncomfortable. What she wanted to ask suddenly began to sound silly in her
own mind. Worse
still, she felt that Dr. Hsai knew what she wanted, but was being too polite to bring up the subject himself
"Dan Christopher has been under great emotional stress," the psychotech said, mainly to keep the
conversation from faltering "He is a very troubled young man. Perhaps it would have been wise to revive
one or more of our sleeping psychiatrists, to examine him thoroughly"
"Yes, I was wondering why you didn't do that," Val said
"Larry Belsen said it wouldn't be necessary As Chairman, he has the responsibility to pass on all
requests for revival."
"Larry disapproved?"
"Yes. I asked him specificially if he wanted us to revive a psychiatrist . . It was when Dan Christopher
was in the infirmary for observation, and I could find nothing psychologically wrong with him "
"And Larry said he didn't want a psychiatrist revived?"
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