Her home, at least, such as it was. He started to say goodnight but Eeshta spoke first. "Barton," she said, "soon you go seeking the Demu, my people? I have heard it. It is supposed to be secret from me. But many do not bp- lieve I understand your speech. They speak where I hear, though they should not."

Barton nodded. "Yes, we have to visit the Demu at home. You can see that."

"I must go with you."

"You want to go home? Yes; sure you would. But this trip won't be too safe, you know. You'd better wait

awhile.'*

"No, now. Barton," said Eeshta. "I know; you will fight. With the ships. You must. Demu will not talk with what they think animals. You will force them. But I must be there, when first there is talk."

Barton didn't argue; she was right. But would Tarleton

agree?

"I'll see what I can do, Eeshta." His arms acted with- out his volition. It was only after Eeshta had entered her quarters, and he was walking away toward his own, that Barton thought, "Well, I'll be go to hell if I didn't hug that hard-shelled little crittur!" Somehow it didn't bother him any.

Barton barged into his own quarters, shucked his shirt and shoes, and poured himself a hefty slug of bourbon.

He looked, and carefully poured half of it back into the bottle. He sat, and sipped, and thought a lot. He went to^ bed early, and slept much better than be had expected.^

Dr. Parr the next morning, tall, languid and about to get a flat nose if he didn't take Barton off the book pretty soon, was in no hurry. "The patients will be with us

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shortly," he said. "Meanwhile let me explain some of the problems." Yeh, let me tell you what the problem is.

The trouble was that Pan- told it in medicalese, which might as well have been Greek. Finally Barton had had it. "Goddammit, Doc! Did it work, or not?*'

"See for yourself." Parr pushed a button on his desk;

shortly, three wheelcbair patients were brought in. Three?

AU were wearing loose hospital-type bathrobes. Two were bald; the third had a towel around its head, band- ages covering its face, and five toes on each foot. That one had to"be Limila, but Barton knew Parr was going to run the show his own way. So he took a deep breath, and

hoped for more patience than he could reasonably expect to have on tap.

The first chair carried a tall skinny guy who didn't look

especially familiar. A little, maybe, but not much. "Say

hello to Mr. Barton," said Parr.

"Hello, Barton. I am Siewen; remember?"

It wasn't, really, but there were lips and a nose, and

dentures that beat the Demu accent The ears. Barton

supposed, were plastic. But what the hell.

"Hello, Doktor Siewen," Barton said. "How do you feel?" Feeling very unrealistic, himself. How long could he keep up this charade? How long could Limila?

"Much better, thank you," said Siewen. "It is good to be able to chew food again. And to pronounce cor- rectly." Well, good on you. Buster, Barton thought, turn- ing to the second wheelchair. The man was no one Barton remembered.

"Who's this?" he asked Parr.

"Heimbach, of course."

"I thought be wouldn't play ball"

"Mr. Tarieton requisitioned him for tests of the Demu shield versus the sleep gun. After the third test, Herr Heimbach rediscovered the desire to be human rather than Demu." Dr. Parr grinned. "As it happens, I was able to improve things somewhat, that are not visible through the bathrobe." Barton thought he should probably feel

glad for Heimbach, but he couldn't seem to find time for it.

He shook his bead, hard. The formal touch, he sup- posed, was required. '

"That's fine. Doctor," he said. "It has been interesting seeing your success with Doktor Siewen and Herr Heim- bach. May we excuse them now, please?"

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Parr nodded. The two were wheeled out. Barton was left alone with Dr. Parr and Limila. He walked over to her, and for the first time she looked up at him. Then she stood, and was in Barton's arms. For a moment they only held each other. Then, unsatisfactorily through the gap in the bandages, he kissed her, very gently.

The rest of it still took a while. Dr. Parr fussed about the unprofessional aspects of the reunion until Barton told him, not politely, to get on with it. Then the bandages came off, along with the towel. Not the robe, though.

The nose and lips were not quite the originals; Barton had known better than to expect perfection, though the nose was very close to it. But below the bare scalp and the fake brows and lashes was a human face. Barton found it comely and knew he could find it lovely, given the chance. The few hairline scars had already begun to fade; they would not be noticeable. He looked at Limila's new lips and was thankful for the existence of Dr. Parr, for they were close to what he had remembered. Only a little shorter.

Limila wasn't happy with the dentures; they were com- fortable enough, and effective, but she wanted her full forty teeth, not merely the human twenty-eight. But she was glad to have the little ridge, so that she no longer talked like a comic drunk; Barton figured she'd settle for the rest of it eventually. He noticed that she hadn't yet bothered with simulated naits on toes or fingers, though recesses had been made for them."

The soft plastic ear-cups, part plug-in an/I part glue-on, were so realistic that Barton first thought they were reaL Then he noticed they were cooler to the touch than real ears. Well, he could live with them if she could.

He wasn't going to ask about anything under the bath- robe, but she told him anyway. No breasts; from a quick study of dress styles she was resigned to wearing Earth- type falsies in company, but bedammt if she'd have them implanted permanently on her Tilari body. All right . . .

She confessed that she had allowed Parr to restore the appearance of external genitals, as well as the navel.

"When I found it really didn't hurt," she said, "it might as well be as much the way you would like, as could be done." *

Barton hugged and kissed her a lot longer than Pair appreciated, before he allowed the doctor to throw him out. He went home with more of a load off bis mind than

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he had expected, and hardly noticed what his pre- packaged lunch didn't taste like.

In the afternoon he took a jeep and went shopping in the nearest medium-sized town, about eighty kilometers to the southwest. He had dinner there, and drove back in the evening. That night he slept without chemical aids of any kind.

The next morning, up early, it took Barton so long to reach Dr. Parr's office, by phone, that he could have walked there and saved time. He was told that he could not see Limila again immediately; Parr was running final postoperative checks on her. But, if be would come over around three in the afternoon, Parr finally got across through Barton's protests, he could probably bring Limila home. If the tests turned out all right Barton thanked him sheepishly and hung up.

He decided to visit the ship; he had nothing else he wanted to do. As be started out the door, the phone rang.

It was Dr. Fox.