Finally it was twenty-four hours from docking time, then eight. Earth grew in size as we neared it. I felt the rockets fire. We slowed. Then we landed safely. Jess and I were instructed to remain in our module to avoid a possible epidemic. They handled us in a special way. The module was flown to the Space Laboratory. We entered a building built especially for us and two volunteer male space medics.

There followed days of checks and tests of all kinds. By this time my body was blue from the neck to my waist and Jess from toes to chest. He made an unfunny jest about cutting both of us in half and making one white man and one blue one out of the two of us.

After six weeks of fruitless attempts to halt the spread of the skin disease, the brains decided that they would try to help us some other way. It had been decided that the malady wasn't contagious, since the space medics had not been affected. This was not cheering news, but it was heartening to know that they hadn't given up on us.

We were kept in the dark until the morning that began our seventh week and that was when we left our isolation for the first time. We were taken to the office of the Commander and given seats in front of his desk. On either side of us were the medics, and in the room also were the top brass, both military and civilian. Fourteen men, besides Jess and myself.

The conversation went this way. “You men want it straight, don't you?" When both of us nodded that we did, the CO continued. "We don't know what to do to stop the spread of this disease, nor to elim- inate the itching. There's no cure in sight. We have three complete laboratories that are on twenty-four hour a day shifts trying to develop something. We'll get it, but we have no idea how long it will take. Frankly we are worried about you, but what can we do? If we wait, it may get in your bloodstream, which it has not done yet. That, we don't want to happen, it would probably be curtains. What we are about to propose, we hesitated over until now, though it was sug- gested a month ago. It isn't a pleasant prospect, but it seems to be the only alternative. We have two things we can do other than wait and take a chance on you both dying of this blue plague.

The first, I am against and you probably will be too. That is to freeze you and keep you in suspended animation until a cure is de- veloped. We can do this. It is reasonably safe. The trouble is that you will not be alive, to all respects. It would be a long sleep, in the event that we come up with a cure.