“For this reason the portable, low-powered scanner will be used briefly and only in an emergency.
“The patient’s earlier cooperation in making voluntary muscle movements at our direction and submitting to external touch, pressure, and temperature stimuli has enabled us, by observing the local increases in neural activity, to identify those areas and eliminate them from the investigation. This information was obtained by sensor only, a detection system which produces no troublesome radiation, but which lacks the precision of the scanner.”
Lioren could not believe that there was anyone in the hospital, either presently on the staff or future trainees, who did not know the difference between a scanner and a sensor, and assumed that the explanation was for the patient’s benefit.
“It was expected,” Conway went on, “that the brain of a macro life-form would be more open and coarse-structured to correspond with its large body mass. As we can now see, the blood supply network is on the expected large scale, but the neural structure appears to be as highly condensed and finely structured as that of a being of smaller mass. I cannot … it is completely beyond rny ability to estimate the level of mentation possible to a brain of this size and complexity.”
Lioren stared at the enlarged image of Conway’s hands as they stretched slowly forward, pushed palms outward to each side, and then moved back out of sight, as if the Diagnostician was swimming endlessly through a fleshy ocean. For a moment he tried to put himself in Hellishomar’s place, but the thought of a white, slippery, two-headed insect crawling about in his brain was so repulsive that he had to control a sudden feeling of nausea.
Conway’s voice became uneven and its respiration more audible as it went on. “While we cannot be completely certain of what is or is not normal in this situation, it seems that the investigation so far has uncovered no evidence of structural abnormality or dysfunction. Our progress is being gradually impeded by increasing pressure from the fissure walls. At first this was ascribed to increasing fatigue in my arm muscles, but Seldal, who has no arms to tire, notes a similar increase in pressure against the outer surface of its carrying pouch. It is not thought to be a psychosomatic effect caused by claustrophobia.
“Mobility and the field of view are seriously reduced,” it added. “We are deploying the rings.”
Lioren watched as Conway struggled to pull the first ring over their heads and, with the help of Seldal’s incredibly flexible neck and beak, position it at waist level before breaking the compressed-air seal and inflating it around them. Two more rings were inflated at knee and shoulder level and joined into a hollow, rigid cylinder by longitudinal spacers. When the initial triple-ring deployment was complete, they added another ring and spacers to extend the structure forward. By deflating and withdrawing the rearmost ring and attaching it in front, and varying the lengths of the spacers, they were able to move the hollow cylinder and travel within it in any required direction. The open structure provided all-around visibility and ready access to perform surgery.
They were no longer swimmers in a near-solid ocean, Lioren thought, but miners boring through a tunnel that they carried with them.
“We are encountering increasing resistance and pressure from one wall of the fissure,” Conway said. “The tissues on that side appear to be both stretched and compressed. You can see there, and over there, where the blood supply has been interrupted. Some of the vessels are distended where the blood has pooled and others deflated and all but empty. This does not appear to be a naturally occurring condition, and the absence of necrosis in the area suggests that the circulation is seriously impeded but so far not completely blocked. The structural adaptation that has taken place also suggests that the condition has been present for a long time.
“Scanning is needed to find its cause and source,” Conway went on. “I will use the hand scanner briefly, at minimum penetration, now. How does the patient feel?”
“Fascinated,” Hellishomar said.
The Earth-human barked softly. “No emotional or cerebral effects are reported by the patient. I will try again with a little more penetration.”
For a few seconds Conway’s scanner image appeared on the main screen, then dissolved. The recording was projected onto an adjacent screen and frozen for study.
“The scanner shows the presence of another membrane at a depth of approximately seven inches,” the Diagnostician continued. “It is no more than half an inch thick, and has a dense, fibrous structure and a degree of convex curvature which, if continued uniformly, would enclose a spherical body of approximately ten feet in diameter. The underlying tissue structure is still unclear but shows a marked difference to that encountered so far. It may be that this is the site of the lobe responsible for the telepathic faculty. But there are other possibilities which can only be eliminated by surgical investigation and tissue analysis. Doctor Seldal will make the incision and obtain tissue samples while I control the bleeding.”
The main screen was filled with a picture of Conway’s hands, looking enormous and distorted because of the proximity of the helmet’s vision pickup, as they fitted a cutter to the Nallajim Senior’s beak. Then an index finger moved forward to outline the position and extent of the required incision.
There was a sudden blur of motion as the back of Seldal’s head and neck briefly obscured the operative field.
“You can see that the initial incision has not uncovered the membrane,” Conway went on, “but the underlying pressure has forced apart the edges of the wound to a degree that, if we don’t relieve the situation by extending the incision at once, there is a serious risk of it tearing open at each end. Seldal, would you go a little deeper and extend … Oh, damn!”
It was as Conway had foreseen. The incision had torn apart at each end and weightless globules of blood were drifting out of it and totally obscuring the operative field. Seldal had discarded the cutter because its beak came into view gripping the suction unit, which it moved expertly along and inside the wound so that Conway could find and seal off the bleeders. Within a very few minutes the wound, now with torn, uneven edges and fully three times its original length, was clear and gaping open to reveal at its base a long, narrow ellipse of utter blackness.
“We have uncovered a strong, flexible, and light-absorbent membrane,” the Diagnostician resumed, “and two tissue samples have been taken. One is being sent out to you through the suction unit for more detailed study, but my analyzer reading indicates an organic material that is totally foreign to the surrounding tissues. Its cell structure is more characteristic of a vegetable than an — What the blazes is happening? We can feel the patient moving. It must remain absolutely still! We are not supposed to be in an area where accidental stimulation of the motor muscles is possible. Hellishomar, what is wrong?”
The Diagnostician’s words were lost in the bedlam of the outer ward, where the tractor and pressor units were emitting audible and visible signals of overload as their operators struggled to keep Hellishomar’s heaving body motionless. The Groalterri’s enormous head was jerking from side to side against its immaterial restraints, and the ends of the incision were tearing and bleeding again. Prilicla’s body was being shaken by an emotional gale, and everyone seemed to be shouting questions, instruction, or warnings at each other.
But it was Hellishomar who succeeded in making itself heard above the din, suddenly and with one word.
“Lioren!”
CHAPTER 25
I am here,” Lioren said, switching quickly to the secure channel, but the sounds that the patient was making did not translate.