re-examination, but otherwise. . ." She withdrew from 
the bed and released the scanner from her hand.
   Ellen Kosinsky straightened up into a sitting 
position. She was a woman in middle years and 
worked in the technical department. If one saw her 
tired movements however, one might have thought there 
was an aged woman before them. Nowadays, muscle 
decrease was no longer an illness, which made the 
care of this case automatically striking. 
   "I thank you, Doctor Russell", she murmured and 
reached for the crutches which lay beside the bed on 
a console. 
   Helena Russell saw the movement and shook her head. 
"No you don't, Ellen! Let the crutches lie. They can 
go away too." 
   Hesitatingly, Ellen Kosinsky let the crutches go 
from her hand. Quite slowly she swung her legs from 
the bed and placed herself uncertainly on her feet. 
Her right leg buckled immediately.
   "It won't work", she groaned. 
   "Yet, still, you're going Ellen. You must want it." 
   Again the technician tried. And again the new muscle 
material malfunctioned, failing to serve the leg. 
With a grimace, Ellen Kosinsky sunk back onto the 
edge of the bed. 
   Again she wanted to reach for the crutches, but 
the Doctor forestalled her and actually stopped her 
with a fast movement. 
   "No, Ellen", she said energetically, "you don't need 
this device any longer. Your leg can withstand the load, 
believe me. Your problem is purely psychosomatic, not 
organic. You imagine yourself unable to go without the 
aid. But in that condition, you are very well able. Come 
on Ellen, don't let yourself down."    

13