"You can't even hold a book for a couple of weeks at least. If you want to hear something, I'll send you a reader or you can have a player and a bunch of wires if we carry anything but treatises on farming. I wouldn't be surprised if Avery'd make a good top man—more autocratic, less tolerant than you, but there are more ways of killing a cat ... and I'll assign you nurses in six hour shifts. It'll keep some of the girls out of mischief."
"Frank ... have a heart!"
"You have one—and hang onto it." Doc Keighley gathered up his bag and left the cabin.
Outside the door he almost bumped into Jack White, Second Astrogator, and Steward Loomis. "Loo, get El Avery up here right away before the hypo hits him. Jack, you go in and sit with him till Avery gets here. He's all right, boys. Just worn out. Let everybody know he'll be back on deck after turnover—if you all stay out of his way till then. Don't let anybody but Avery or the nurse in, Jack," and the little doctor bustled off and out of sight around the curve of the corridor.
To Jack White, entering the tiny cabin lit only by the desk lamp, Tim Daneshaw looked near gone. He went over and sat silent on the chair the doctor had turned to the bunk. Tim's eyes were shut, but he spoke weakly.
"El? El Avery?"
"No Captain, it's Jack White. Avery will be here as soon as he can."
A long silence.
Daneshaw spoke again. "Got to shift command, Jack."