Thecna2

the other alternative is that someone had a copy of this for years and sat on it until the one time they could use it came up.

Neither sound quite right.

IF 98% of the doctors dont sign the contract wont that have the same effect?

Melanin is needed for a number of functions to do with ears and eyes. All-white Great Dane dogs are often deaf and mostly blind. Melanin is great.

Nor, would I suggest, a massive reservoir of replacement doctors.

Do you read SciFi and go 'ugh... ridiculous' on every page? I like a bit of hard scifi myself and there are quite a few astronomers/astrophysicists involved in the genre these days. If you do read it what authors/styles do you like? Or, given that youre a student, do you not have the time?