Stranger in a Strange Land

stereo last night?"
                The man in the tank bed did not answer. Tanner said, "I don't think he knows the word. Let me try. Mike, you remember what you did with Mr. Douglas last night?"
                The face looked petulant. "Bright lights. Hurt."
                "Yes, the lights hurt your eyes. Mr. Douglas had you say hello to people."
                The patient smiled slightly. "Long ride in chair."
                "Okay," agreed Caxton. "I catch on. Mike, are they treating you all right here?"
                "Yes."
                "You don't have to stay here, you know. Can you walk?"

            Tanner said hastily, "Now see here, Mr. Caxton-" Berquist put a hand on his arm and he shut up.
                "I can walk ... a little. Tired."
                "I'll see that you have a wheel chair. Mike, if you don't want to stay here, I'll help you get out of bed and take you anywhere you want to go."
                Tanner shook off Berquist's hand and said, "I can't have you interfering with my patient!"
                "He's a free man, isn't he?" Caxton persisted. "Or is he a prisoner here?"
                Berquist answered, "Of course he is a free man! Keep quiet, Doctor. Let the fool dig his own grave."
                "Thanks, Gil. Thanks all to pieces. So he is free to leave if he wants to. You heard what he said, Mike. You don't have to stay here. You can go anywhere you like. I'll help you."
                The patient glanced fearfully at Tanner. "No! No, no, no!"
                "Okay, okay."
                Tanner snapped, "Mr. Berquist, this has gone quite far enough! My patient will be upset the rest of the day."
                "All right, Doctor. Ben, let's get the show on the road. You've had enough, surely."
                "Ub ... just one more question." Caxton thought hard, trying to think what he could squeeze out of it. Apparently Jill had been wrong- yet she had not been wrong!-or so it had seemed last night. But something did not quite fit although he could not tell what it was.
                "One more question," Berquist begrudged.
                "Thanks. Uh ... Mike, last night Mr. Douglas asked you some questions." The patient watched him but made no comment. "Let's see, he asked you what you thought of the girls here on Earth, didn't he?"
                The patient's face broke into a big smile. "Gee!"
                "Yes. Mike ... when and where did you see these girls?"
                The smile vanished. The patient glanced at Tanner, then he stiffened, his eyes rolled up, and he drew himself into the foetal position, knees drawn up, head bent, and arms folded across his chest.
                Tanner snapped, "Get them out of here!" He moved quickly to the tank bed and felt the patient's wrist.
                Berquist said savagely, "That tears it! Caxton, will you get out? Or shall I call the guards and have you thrown out?"
                "Oh, we're getting out all right," Caxton agreed. All but Tanner left the room and Berquist closed the door.
                "Just one point, Gil," Caxton insisted. "You've got him boxed up in there . . . so just where did he see those girls?"
                "Eh? Don't be silly. He's seen lots of girls. Nurses ... laboratory technicians. You know."
                "But I don't know. I understood he had nothing but male nurses and that female visitors had been rigidly excluded."
                "Eh? Don't be any more preposterous than you have to be." Berquist looked annoyed, then suddenly grinned. "You saw a nurse with him on stereo just last night."
                "Oh. So I did." Caxton shut up and let himself be led out.

                They did not discuss it further until the three were in the air, headed for Cavendish's home. Then Frisby remarked, "Ben, I don't suppose the Secretary General will demean himself to sue you, since you did not print it. Still, if you really do have a source for that rumor you mentioned, we had better perpetuate the evidence. You don't have much of a leg to stand on, you know."
                "Forget it Mark. He won't sue." Ben glowered at the floor of the cab. "How do we know that was the Man from