Stories such as that of the ghostly “New Hope” carrying refugees from the first Martian Rebellion—­the ship which had lifted for the stars but had never arrived, which wandered for a timeless eternity, a derelict in free fall, its port closed but the warning “dead” lights on at its nose—­a ship which through five centuries had been sighted only by a spacer in similar distress.  Such stories were numerous.  There were other tales of “plague” ships wandering free with their dead crews, or discovered and shot into some sun by a patrol cruiser so that they might not carry their infection farther.  Plague—­the nebulous “worst” the Traders had to face.  Dane screwed his eyes shut, tried to concentrate upon the droning voice in his ears, but he could not control his thoughts nor—­his fears.

At a touch on his arm he started so wildly that he jerked the cord loose from the reader and sat up, somewhat shamefaced, to greet Tau.  At the Medic’s orders he stripped for one of the most complete examinations he had ever undergone outside a quarantine port.  It included an almost microscopic inspection of the skin on his neck and shoulders, but when Tau had done he gave a sigh of relief.

“Well, you haven’t got it—­at least you don’t show any signs yet,” he amended his first statement almost before the words were out of his mouth.

“What were you looking for?”

Tau took time out to explain.  “Here,” his fingers touched the small hollow at the base of Dane’s throat and then swung him around and indicated two places on the back of his neck and under his shoulder blades.  “Kosti and Mura both have red eruptions here.  It’s as if they have been given an injection of some narcotic.”  Tau sat down on the jump seat while Dane dressed.  “Kosti was dirt-side—­he might have picked up something—­”

“But Mura—­”

“That’s it!” Tau brought his fist down on the edge of the bunk.  “Frank hardly left the ship—­yet he showed the first signs.  On the other hand you are all right so far and you were off ship.  And Ali’s clean and he was with you on the hunt.  We’ll just have to wait and see.”  He got up wearily.  “If your head begins to ache,” he told Dane, “you get back here in a hurry and stay put—­understand?”

As Dane learned all the other members of the crew were given the same type of inspection.  But none of them showed the characteristic marks which meant trouble.  They were on course for Terra—­but—­and that but must have loomed large in all their minds—­once there would they be allowed to land?  Could they even hope for a hearing?  Plague ship—­Tau must find the answer before they came into normal space about their own solar system or they were in for such trouble as made a broken contract seem the simplest of mishaps.

Kosti and Mura were in isolation.  There were volunteers for nursing and Tau, unable to be in two places at once, finally picked Weeks to look after his crewmate in the engineering section.