According To His Abilities

'Mentally sick — and on the way to being cured until this happened. I hate to think how long it will set him back. Not as sick as some, he has almost a classic case of paranoia simplex, which is why we could use him. His delusions of persecution relate to his actual perception of his surroundings. So he was right at home down there. If you had read all the reports instead of blundering in you would have found out that those aliens have a society where a condition very much resembling paranoia is the norm. They feel that everyone is against them — and they are right. Everyone is. No sane person could have been counted on to have the right reactions in such a society— we needed someone who suffered from the same sickness. The only thing I'm even remotely happy about in this whole mess is that it wasn't my decision to send Briggs down there. They decided that upstairs and I did the dirty work. I and Briggs.'

Zarevski looked down at the slack face of the man on the floor, breathing hard even though he was unconscious.

'I'm sorry… I didn't. .'

'You couldn't know.' Dr DeWitt was rigid with anger as he felt the fast, erratic pulse of his patient. 'But there is one thing you did know. You weren't supposed to land on that planet — but you did anyway.'

'That's none of your business.'

'Yes it is, just for now. Just for these few minutes before we go back to the ship and before I go back to my ward and they forget about me, with maybe a small commendation on my record, and you go back to being the great Zarevski and they put your name in the headlines. I helped pull you out of there which gives me the right to tell you one thing. You're a grandstander Zarevski and I hate your guts. I… oh what the hell…'

He turned away and Zarevski opened his mouth to say something, then changed his mind.

It was a short trip back to the waiting mother ship, and they didn't talk to each other because there was really nothing to say.