Project Gutenberg 2010-04-14 Public domain in the USA. 188 Gold, H. L. (Horace Leonard) 1914 1996 Gold, Horace Leonard Storey, Richard Grimm, Christopher Sharp, Henry Sharp, H. No Charge for Alterations Produced from Amazing Stories April-May 1953. Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "No Charge for Alterations" by H. L. Gold is a science fiction short story published in the early 1950s. The narrative unfolds on the planet Deneb, where the medical practices and societal norms starkly contrast those of Earth. The story explores themes of adaptation and social control, questioning the moral implications of altering people's identities and bodies to suit the needs of a frontier society. In the story, Dr. Kalmar, a seasoned physician on Deneb, faces the challenges of training his inexperienced assistant, Dr. Hoyt, who has just arrived from Earth. The plot revolves around the practice of using Ego Alter and Rephysical treatments to mold individuals to fit societal roles, such as transforming Avis, a discontented young girl, into a capable farm worker she once resisted becoming. Dr. Kalmar believes he is acting for the greater good of Deneb, while Dr. Hoyt grapples with the ethics behind such alterations. As tensions rise, Dr. Lowell, Kalmar's mentor, intervenes to provide perspective, ultimately leading to a surprising resolution. The story raises thought-provoking questions about personal agency, societal expectations, and the consequences of intrusive medical practices. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 86.3 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Physicians -- Fiction Space colonies -- Fiction PS Text Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 78491 2025-06-13T07:39:19.263223 text/html 75381 2010-04-14T11:34:48 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 111256 2010-04-14T11:34:48 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 185882 2025-06-13T07:39:25.076219 application/epub+zip 184678 2025-06-13T07:39:22.280193 application/epub+zip 97544 2025-06-13T07:39:21.025234 application/epub+zip 287201 2025-06-13T07:39:27.059217 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 280200 2025-06-13T07:39:24.299241 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 148787 2022-09-14T15:53:23.620939 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 69292 2025-06-13T07:39:18.872209 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 69127 2010-04-14T11:34:48 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 26903 2010-04-14T11:34:48 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19299 2025-06-13T07:39:27.207189 application/rdf+xml 13462 2025-06-13T07:39:21.577255 image/jpeg 3783 2025-06-13T07:39:21.299234 image/jpeg 180074 2025-06-13T07:39:19.281214 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia