“As the being who wished to be responsible for this patient,” she continued, “the hyperspace signal was for Conway’s attention. But it urgently requested an ambulance ship, not the presence of the Diagnostician.
“Conway knew why this was so,” Cha Thrat went on, “because it also knew as much about Gogleskan preg-nancies as Khone itself did, so it might be that the literal wording of the signal released Conway from the promise. Knowing that its patient required nothing more than fasl transport to the hospital, the Diagnostician was no| overly concerned, and it told you not to be concerned, either, by its absence.
“It may well be,” she ended, “that the recent criticism of Diagnostician Conway’s seemingly unethical behavior’ was without basis.”
Naydrad turned toward Murchison and made the closest thing to an apology that a Kelgian could make as it said, “Cha Thrat is probably right, and I am stupid.”
“Undoubtedly right,” Danaita joined in. “I’m sorry, Pathologist. If I was in Earth-human form right now, my face would be red.”
Murchison did not reply but continued to stare at Cha Thrat. The Pathologist’s face had returned to its normal coloration, but otherwise displayed no expression that she could read. Prilicla drifted toward her until she could feel the slight, regular down-draft from its wings.
“Cha Thrat,” the Cinrusskin said quietly, “I have a strong feeling that you have made a new friend …”
It broke off as the casualty deck’s speaker came to life with the overamplified voice of Fletcher.
“Senior Physician, Control here.” it said. “Hyper-space Jump complete and we are estimating the Goglesk orbiting maneuver in three hours, two minutes. The lander is powered up and ready to go, so you c transfer your medical gear as soon as convenient.
“We are in normal-space radio contact with Lieutenant Wainright,” it went on, “who wants to talk to you about your patient, Khone.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Prilicla replied. “We want to talk about Khone as well. Please relay friend Wainright’smessage to the casualty deck here and to the lander bay when we move out. We can work as we talk.”
“Will do,” Fletcher said. “Relay complete. You are through to Senior Physician Prilicla, Lieutenant. Goahead.”
In spite of the distortion caused by the translation into Sommaradvan, Cha Thrat could detect the deep anxiety in Wainright’s voice. She listened carefully with only part of her mind on the job of helping Naydrad load medical equipment onto the litter.
“I’m sorry, Doctor,” it said, “the original arrangements for the pickup on our landing area will have to be scrapped. Khone isn’t able to travel, and sending transport manned by off-planet people to collect it from its town will be tricky. At a time like this the natives are particularly, well, twitchy, and the arrival of visually horrifying alien monsters to carry it and its unborn child away could cause a joining and—”
“Friend Wainright,” Prilicla interrupted gently, “what is the condition of the patient?”
“I don’t know, Doctor,” the Lieutenant replied. “When we met three days ago it told me that Junior would arrive very soon and would I please send for the ambulance ship. It also said that it had to make arrangements to have its patients cared for, and that it would come to the base shortly before the lander was due. Then a few hours ago a message was relayed verbally to the base saying that it could not move from its house, but the bearer of the message could not tell me whether the cause was illness or injury. Also, it asked if you had another power pack for the scanner Conway left with it. Khone has been impressing its patients with that particular marvel of Federation medical science and the energy cell is flat, which would explain why Khone was unableto give us any clinical information on its own present j condition.”
“I’m sure you are right, friend Wainright,” Prilicla I said. “However, the patient’s sudden loss of mobility in- 1 dicates a possibly serious condition that may be deter- 1 iorating. Can you suggest a method of getting it into the! lander, quickly and with minimum risk to itself and its j friends?”
“Frankly, no, Doctor,” Wainright said. “This is going to be a maximum-risk job from the word go. If it was a member of any other species we know of, I could load it < onto my flyer and bring it to you within a few minutes. But no Gogleskan, not even Healer Khone, could sit that close to an off-planet creature without emitting a distress call, and you know what would happen then.”
“We do,” Prilicla said, trembling at the thought of the widespread, self-inflicted property damage to the town and the mental anguish of the inhabitants that would ensue.
The Lieutenant went on. “Your best bet would be to ignore the base and land as close as possible to Rhone’s house, in a small clearing between it and the shore of an inland lake. I’ll circle the area in a flyer and guide you down. Maybe we can devise something on the spot. You’ll need some special remote handling devices to move it out, but I can help you with the external dimensions of Rhone’s house and doorways …”
While Cha Thrat helped the rest of the medical team move equipment into the lander, Wainright and the empath continued to wrestle with the problem. But it was obvious that they had no clear answers and were, instead, trying to provide for all eventualities.
“Cha Thrat,” Prilicla said, breaking off its conversation with the base commander. “As a nonmember of the crew I cannot give you orders, but we’ll need as manyextra hands down there as we can assemble. You areparticularly well equipped with manipulatory appendages, as well as an understanding of the devices used to move and temporarily accommodate the patient, and I feel in you a willingness to accompany us.”
“Your feeling is correct,” Cha Thrat said, knowing that the intensity of excitement and gratitude the other’s words had generated made verbal thanks unnecessary.
“If we load any more gadgetry into the lander,” Nay-drad said, “there won’t be enough space for the patient, much less a hulking great Sommaradvan.”
But there was enough space inside the lander to take all of them, especially when those not wearing gravity compensators, which was everyone but Prilicla, were further compressed by the lander’s savage deceleration. Lieutenant Dodds, Rhabwar’s astrogation officer and the lander’s pilot, had been told that speed had priority over a comfortable ride, and it obeyed that particular order with enthusiasm. So fast and uncomfortable was the descent that Cha Thrat saw nothing of Goglesk until she stepped onto its surface.
For a few moments she thought that she was back on Somrnaradva, standing in a grassy clearing beside the shore of a great inland lake and with the tree-shrouded outlines of a small, servile township in the middle distance. But the ground beneath her feet was not that of her home planet, and the grass, wildflowers, and all the vegetation around her were subtly different in color, odor, and leaf structure from their counterparts on Som-maradva. Even the distant trees, although looking incredibly similar to some of the lowland varieties at home, were the products of a completely different evolutionary background.
Sector General had seemed strange and shocking toher at first, but it had been a fabrication of metal, a gigantic artificial house. This was a different world!
“Is your species afflicted with sudden and inexplicable bouts of paralysis?” Naydrad asked. “Stop wasting time and bring out the litter.”