For the next half-hour, Major Odino extracted every detail of the night of the rape. As the innkeeper, it had not been possible for Donord to join the locals that had gone to extract justice from the star men, so he had only hearsay for what happened, and the Major stopped him when he began relating it.
"I can't use hearsay," he said. "I must know only what you personally witnessed and heard. Now, tell me again exactly what Blue-eye said when she came in the door."
The questions went on and on. Donord was sure he'd told the story a dozen times, but he was honest enough to admit that the major was helping him remember details he'd nearly forgotten. Even the major was beginning to run down when a thin older man in a white jacket came in.
"I'm Doctor Ros-Tre," he said. "Your girl, uh, 'Blue-eye', will be fine, but she will require several hours in the regen booth."
"I'll need to talk to her, Doctor," the major said. "How soon will that be possible?"
The doctor frowned. "Probably late this afternoon or early this evening. We do not plan to discharge her until morning."
Major Odino nodded. "May I speak with you for a moment, Doctor?"
The doctor looked irritated. "Of course, Major." Odino pulled the doctor to a corner of the room. Surprisingly, Donord could hear every word. Evidently star men's hearing was not as acute as that of the men of Jumbo.
"I've got a problem, doc," the major began. "Is there any chance you could put these two up here in the med bay for the night? You're better equipped for decontam than the visitor's quarters. And I'd say decontam will be required. Besides," he added, "I'm sure they'd rather stay near the girl, and I think the General would rather not have them wandering around loose."
The doctor nodded, a faint smile playing around his lips. "I quite understand, Major. We had quite a bit of cleaning to do before we could treat the patient. Someone had cleaned up the areas of injury, though," he added. "Very well, Major. Do you think they would mind sharing a room? It would simplify hygiene and decontam."
"I think they would object to being separated," the major said. "Thanks, doc."
They returned to Donord. "We will be keeping the girl overnight," the doctor told him. "She will be ready to leave tomorrow morning. We will arrange a room for you and your friend, here."
The room had a faint acrid odor and two large beds on wheels. Everything was spotlessly clean, but like the rest of the med center, the lack of any warmth or character was instantly noticeable. The young woman who showed them the room explained the 'fresher to them. Donord reflected that Dee had been telling the truth. Even this utilitarian room contained facilities for washing and 'showering', whatever that was. The star men seemed obsessed by cleanliness.
While his companion endlessly flushed the commode, chuckling happily, Donord stood at the windows, still trying to figure out what he should be looking for. The lights that came on all over the colony as darkness fell were bright and harsh, not the dim softness of torches or oil lamps.
A quiet knock announced the arrival of another young woman, this one bearing two trays. She stopped just inside the door, silhouetted against the brightness of the hall. "Oh!" she said. "I'm sorry. Didn't they show you how to use the lights?" At the word 'lights', blinding white light flooded the room. Donord and his companion flinched and blinked while their eyes tried to adapt to the brightness.
The young woman put the trays on small tables with wheels. She looked around at the two men, who were simply standing and watching her. "It's food," she said in a puzzled tone. "Dinner. Eat?"
Donord smiled. "Thank you." The young woman smiled and hurried out. The lights stayed on. Donord hadn't been sure they would. The food was unidentifiable, and quite tasteless. Donord was unimpressed, but both he and his companion wolfed it down.
The beds were surprisingly hard, with a feel far different from their straw pallets. "Lights," Donord said uncertainly, and suddenly the room was dark. He heard his companion slip from his bed and drag his blankets to the floor.
After a breakfast that was as tasteless as the dinner had been, the men were taken to see Blue-eye. Donord was amazed. She was sitting up in bed, wearing some sort of gown. But most importantly, her previously ruined face was now unmarked. She was admiring it in a looking-glass, and Donord got a feeling she'd been doing that for a while. "Blue-eye?" he asked uncertainly. She smiled, and her teeth were now even and blinding white. "Isn't it wonderful?" She slipped from the bed and whipped the gown over her head, pirouetting to display her unmarked naked body. "I'm perfect!" she said. "And my head doesn't itch!"
A knock, and the Major entered. "Good morning." He turned to Blue-eye, "Are you still willing to point out the man that attacked you?" he asked. At her firm nod, he continued. "Excellent. Uh, your clothes were damaged. However, fresh clothing will be brought to you. Uh, I'm afraid we have no clothing with appropriate skirts. I hope you won't mind wearing trousers."
Blue-eye eyed Donord before turning a smile on the major. "No shift? No chemise? No petticoats? No floor-length skirt to trip on? Yes, Major, I will wear your trousers."
Another quiet knock, and a middle-aged woman in a white jacket came in. She sniffed at the three men standing around the nude woman, and then shooed them out so she could show Blue-eye how to wear star woman clothing.
The General's entire command of over 160 men was lined up and waiting when the Jumbos arrived in a small hovercraft. Blue-eye emerged with a grim look. The General and her two escorts following, she walked confidently up a long line of men, and more than halfway down a second. Suddenly she stopped, glaring at a large man standing at a rigid attention.
Blue-eye stretched to her full five-foot, two inch height. "Yes," she said disdainfully. "I do think I'm too good for you!" She spat in his face and stamped furiously away. Donord's and his companion's hands moved toward their belt knives, but two uniformed soldiers quickly moved in and grabbed the unresisting man, leading him away.
The major accompanied them back to the Sergeant's Privy, to begin locating and interviewing witnesses.
Chapter 18
As the last bit of sunlight faded to Jumbo's star-studded blackness, Tran sighed as he finished feeding and watering his dino. His ninth night in Jumbo's darkness without the comfort of a fire. He knew he shouldn't complain, though. Some of the Free People had been using dark camps for three weeks. And there were two weeks to go.
Over a month had passed since the humiliation at Treaty, and impatience ate at him like an acid. But he and Forn and the others had agreed that a normal attack would simply end with the deaths of the Free People without damage to the star men. Without damage and without vengeance. No, they had decided, this attack, this death ride, needed planning and the cunning of the plains rat.
Planned it had been, and cunning it was. Why, some of the Free People had actually volunteered to attack on foot, without their dinos!
But it had taken time. Much more time than they'd thought. Why, it had taken over three weeks just to smuggle 400 warriors from the camps of the Free People and start them trickling toward the star man village.
The eye in the sky, they had learned, was not infallible. Groups of ten or twenty would result in a dot screaming high above them in the sky. Probably it was just watching, but it was also a warning.