But I've been talking to Earth. I've been given the
devil for landing on a strange planet without bringing along a
bacteriologist, an organic chemist, an ecologist, an epidemiologist, and
a complete laboratory to test everything with, before daring to take a
breath of outside air. I'm warned not to open a port!"
Holden said:
"You sound as if you'd been talking to a biologist with a reputation.
You ought to know better than that!"
Cochrane protested:
"I wanted to talk to somebody who knew more than I did! What could I do
but get a man with a reputation?"
Holden shook his head.
"We psychiatrists," he observed, "go around peeping under the corners of
rugs at what people try to hide from themselves. We have a worm's-eye
view of humanity. We know better than to throw a difficult problem at a
man with an established name! They're neurotic about their reputations.
Like Dabney, they get panicky at the idea of anybody catching them in a
mistake. No big name in medicine or biology would dare tell you that of
course it's all right for us to take a walk in the rather pretty
landscape outside."
"Then who will?" demanded Cochrane.
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