"No."

"Have you had any recent viral infection, including poliomyelitis, hepatitis, mononucleosis, mumps, measles, varicella, or herpes?"

"No."

"Any warts?"

"No."

"Have you any known allergies?"

"Yes, to ragweed pollen."

On the screen appeared the words:

ROGEEN PALEN

And then after a moment:

UNCODABLE RESPONSE

"Please repeat your response slowly for our memory cells."

Very distinctly, he said, "Ragweed pollen."

On the screen:

RAGWEED POLLEN CODED

"Are you allergic to albumen?" continued the voice.

"No."

"This ends the formal questions. Please undress and return to the couch, obliterating the points as before."

He did so. A moment later, an ultraviolet lamp swung out on a long arm and moved close to his body. Next to the lamp was some kind of scanning eye. Watching the screen he could see the computer print of the scan, beginning with his feet.

"This is a scan for fungus," the voice announced. After several minutes, Hall was ordered to lie on his stomach, and the process was repeated. He was then told to lie on his back once more and align himself with the dots.

"Physical parameters will now be measured," the voice said. "You are requested to lie quietly while the examination is conducted."

A variety of leads snaked out at him and were attached by mechanical hands to his body. Some he could understand—the half-dozen leads over his chest for an electrocardiogram, and twenty-one on his head for an electroencephalogram. But others were fixed on his stomach, his arms, and his legs.

"Please raise your left hand," said the voice.

Hall did. From above, a mechanical hand came down, with an electric eye fixed on either side of it. The mechanical hand examined Hall's.

"Place your hand on the board to the left. Do not move. You will feel a slight prick as the intravenous needle is inserted."

Hall looked over at the screen. It flashed a color image of his hand, with the veins showing in a pattern of green against a blue background. Obviously the machine worked by sensing heat. He was about to protest when he felt a brief sting.

He looked back. The needle was in.

"Now then, just lie quietly. Relax."

For fifteen seconds, the machinery whirred and clattered. Then the leads were withdrawn. The mechanical hands placed a neat Band-Aid over the intravenous puncture.

"This completes your physical parameters," the voice said.

"Can I get dressed now?"

"Please sit up with your right shoulder facing the television screen. You will receive pneumatic injections."

A gun with a thick cable came out of one wall, pressed up against the skin of his shoulder, and fired. There was a hissing sound and a brief pain.

"Now you may dress," said the voice. "Be advised that you may feel dizzy for a few hours. You have received booster immunizations and gamma G. If you feel dizzy, sit down. If you suffer systemic effects such as nausea, vomiting, or fever, report at once to Level Control. Is that clear?"