 What is the purpose of paraoxynebutal?
SEA LEGS By FRANK QUATTROCCHI Illustrated by EMSH [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction November 1951. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] Rootless and footloose, a man in space can't help but dream of coming home. Flight Officer Robert Craig surrendered the tube containing his service record tapes and stood waiting while the bored process clerk examined the seal. He felt anxiety as the much-handled card refused for a time to match the instrument's metal contact points. "Your service tapes," the next noncom said. "Los Angeles." "Los Angeles, eh? "No specific destination," supplied the man as he punched a key on a small instrument, "Air-lock ahead and to your right. Any metal?" "Metal?" asked Craig. "You know, metal ." "Place your clothing in the receptacle provided and assume a stationary position on the raised podium in the center of the lock." Craig obeyed the robot voice and began reluctantly to remove his flight jacket. It was impossible to hate a robot, but one could certainly hate those who set it into operation. Stepping on the button with his bare foot produced an instant of brilliant blue illumination. The Schtann flight jacket was actually there, looking like new, its space-blue unfaded and as wonderfully pliant as before. "Insert your right arm into the instrument on the central table," commanded the same voice he had heard before. When he withdrew his arm, the scratch was neatly coated with a layer of flesh-colored plastic material. "By 'home' you mean Terra. "No, but my father—" "Your parents left Terra during the Second Colonization of Cassiopeia II, didn't they?" He was uncomfortable; Wyandotte seemed to know all about him. "I was entered as a spaceman when I was 16," Craig said. "With the help of paraoxylnebutal," supplied the captain. "Mr. Craig, I suppose you've guessed that the next step in our little torture system here is psych." Short of Gravitational conditioning, there is nothing to stop you from going to Terra." Your body is conditioned to a normal state of free fall, or at best to a state of acceleration." "You were ill, couldn't keep your balance, felt dizzy. That is why all spacemen carry PON, paraoxylnebutal, with them. It helps suppress certain physiological reactions to an entirely new set of conditions.
 It helps people adjust to changes in gravity
 It relaxes the sympathetic nervous system  It puts a human to sleep for up to 12 days  It helps people adjust to changes in gravity  It opens the airways to allow for easier breathing