“All captains use this trick. The union knows all about it, but they let it slide.”
“They use this trick? To sneak aboard girls with no documents?” asked Janet quizzically.
“No. To give the crew additional bonuses, or get an extra contract on the side, to hide unauthorized shore leave… for many other small infringements. No one can track all of this down, Janet. Planets live according to their own time. And so do spaceships.”
Janet looked at him darkly.
“I have long reconciled myself to the fact that the Empire is a crazy and anarchic world, Captain. But I didn’t expect this kind of craziness.”
“Will you help us, Janet?”
“But I would know that the law had been broken,” she said wistfully.
“Yes. You would. But I do believe Kim. She has no other way to become legal and re-enter society. If you refuse, you would, in fact, be killing the girl. And you are a doctor.”
Janet sighed. Looked at Kim, who sat motionless, tensely awaiting her answer.
“Take off your clothes. You can leave your underwear on.”
“Thank you, Janet,” said Alex.
“You’re a madman, sir. And you’re dragging me into your madness. Keep in mind that I am breaking the law not for you personally, and not even by your order!”
Alex nodded.
Kim had already taken off her suit and was standing there, waiting.
“Over here.” Janet waved her hand. “You’ll have to step into the white circle for a minute or two. It’s a computer scan, nothing to be afraid of.”
“Is this really necessary? The genetic analysis and…” began Alex. Janet glared at him.
“Listen, Captain! You’ve already dragged me into this shady business! So spare me your advice! I must do a tomography scan.”
She turned and walked over to the main sick bay control panel. Kim cast a brief, stealthy glance at the doctor’s back and then dipped her hand under her little camisole. Another second, and the heavy, warm crystal lay in Alex’s hand.
Kim, the picture of innocence, stood in the circle of the tomographer, while Janet did her magic at the control panel. Alex lowered his gaze to look at the iridescent cone in the palm of his hand.
He was under no obligation to report his crewmembers’ personal belongings. Besides, the crystal was not the object of an official search. And maybe it wasn’t even a real gel-crystal. With a price ten times higher than a ship like the Mirror. Maybe it was just a masterful fake.
An appeal based on your own stupidity was always the best defense.
“All right, that’s it. Get dressed,” said Janet brusquely. “No, wait a minute.”
She got a syringe out of a small cabinet, tore open the packaging.
“You afraid of blood?”
“Not blood, but I’m afraid of shots,” said Kim gloomily.
“Sorry to hear that,” rejoined Janet, unsympathetically. She took hold of the girl’s arm and brought the syringe over to the inner elbow. There was a smell of disinfectant, and the transparent little barrel filled up with blood.
“You could do a skin test instead!” protested Kim belatedly. Backed up toward Alex, put an urgent hand behind her back, taking advantage of the fact that Janet had turned around again for a moment. Alex silently returned the crystal.
“No, I couldn’t. This isn’t a fully equipped clinic, it’s just an express-analysis lab. That’s it, we’re done, get dressed and go to your quarters.”
Kim seemed to realize that there was no point in arguing, and especially in trying Janet’s patience. She quickly dressed, darted an indignant glance at Alex, and left.
“Why did you send her away?” inquired Alex.
Janet pensively studied the syringe barrel. Sighed.
“Just in case. Captain, are you aware that the Zzygou race has been attempting to send spies into human society?”
Alex took a deep breath, mentally counted to ten.
“That’s paranoia, Janet. Any Zzygou could be detected from ten yards away. Even if you’re blindfolded. By odor alone.”
“They’ve found a way to neutralize the odor, and the guise of a young girl is their best-developed transformation,” said Janet dismissively. “This could be the reason for having no documents, and the unwillingness to undergo genetic analysis…. One minute, Captain.”
Alex waited while she divided the blood between a dozen test tubes and took reagents out of cabinets. It was useless to argue with her. As useless as derision, or appealing to reason. He had to keep in mind that Janet was, after all, from Eben. What might seem like crazy paranoia to Alex was for her a routine precaution, as normal as washing fruit before she ate it.
“This is our express field methodology,” she commented while dripping the reagents into one of the test tubes. “It could give a false positive, but it’s generally reliable. Let’s not wait for the results of the serum reactions, especially since they can be falsified by injecting the necessary anti-glutinogens into the bloodstream. Okay, here we go…”
The doctor silently examined the test tube.
“What’s supposed to happen?” Alex asked. He tensed. Paranoia was contagious.
“Already happened. The blood coagulated.” Janet shook a small lump of red jelly onto her hand. “See?”
“And what does this mean?”
“That Kim is human, of course.” Janet went over to the sink and thoroughly washed her hands.
“I could have told you that from the get-go, Janet, without any crazy tests!”
“But this way, I know for sure.”
She was from Eben… Alex half-closed his eyes. If he could see his Demon now, what would it look like? Weary, annoyed, or beside himself with rage?
“Janet, let’s do a specialization analysis.”
“Okay, just a minute.”
Janet went back to manipulating her test tubes. She opened a flat plastic case, which turned out to contain at least a hundred tiny vials. She took a speck of something out of each one, then began adding that to the blood in the test tubes.
“I thought you were going to do the genetic analysis,” remarked Alex.
“This is the genetic analysis. These vials contain the indicators for a number of specific genes. If a reaction occurs, then Kim has that particular gene.”
Leaving the test tubes on the table, Janet walked over, sat down next to him.
“Do you have a cigarette, Captain?”
“Here, please take one.”
Janet lit up. Some ashes fell to the floor, and she nodded approvingly when a small cleaner bug crawled out of a corner with a rustling sound.
“I have my quirks, Captain… you’ll have to be tolerant of them.”
“I understand…” And then he blurted out, before he realized it, “My whole crew has quirks, damn it!”
“Is this your first flight as a captain?”
Alex bit his lip. This is what happens when you spill your guts.
“Yes.”
“It’s all right. It’s easy to get used to. I’ve been a captain on a torpedo boat… in my past life. Two hundred subordinates. Do you think any of them were without quirks?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yeah, a few. Five or six people at the most. The ones who could hide their quirks. Ah! The first test tube’s lost its color!”
Alex looked at the tabletop.
“And what does that mean?”
“It’s called the cheetah-gene. Responsible for the transformation of the musculature, makes you capable of short-term super-overloads. Well, we saw this one in action recently. So, as I was about to say, Alex… if you ever need help… or advice from a former captain… you can always count on me.”
Alex searched her face for any sign of irony or ridicule. No, Janet was serious.