speak in a voice that was not his own. Some with
him recognized the voice, but said nothing. He told what was wrong with
each person and recommended a course of treatment. Some of the
recommended cures were odd, but the Healers noted them and followed
them exactly.
226 Only once did Bullet touch anything; a young man whose arm had been
badly chewed by a neighbor's pet cat. The flash of light came and the
young man's arm appeared lightly burned, but in a short time it
completely healed.
227 When Bullet left the hospital, the Healers begged him to come
again. He promised he would. This new part of his life soon
overshadowed his other work. Gradually others took over his work in The
Black Watch. The need for it was disappearing anyway. Only two seasons after its beginning
its numbers were cut in half. By six seasons it was down to a fourth of
its original strength. Slowly its numbers declined until it had only a
few thousand members that did very specialized duty.
228 Bullet spent the rest of his life going from hospital to hospital
and healing the sick. He wrote in his life story in the closing days of
his life, that these were his happiest seasons.
229 On one of these visits, he met a young nurse whose pleasing smile
and happy nature warmed him. He invited her to visit, and as soon as his other mates met her, they knew she
would be staying. And, with the lifting of the birth regulations because of the new colonies on Hades' sister
planets, the house was soon filled with laughing, running children.
230 "How incredible," marveled Bullet, "a couple of seasons ago, it
would have taken us seasons to reach out to the furthest planet. Now we
can go and come in a few months! What a difference a simple, scientific
discovery can make! What changes it can bring!"
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