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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
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,
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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
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file:///F|/rah/James%20White/White,%20James%20-%20Sector%20General%2007%20-%20
Code%20Blue%20Emergency.txt 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.
She was guiding the powered litter down the unloading ramp when Wainright's
flyer landed and rolled to a stop close beside them. The five Earth-humans who
manned the Goglesk base jumped out. Four of them scattered quickly and began
running toward the town, testing their translation and public address
equipment as they went, while the Lieutenant came toward the lander.
"If you have anything to do that involves two or more of you working closely
together," it said quickly, "do it now while the flyer is hiding you from view
of the town. And when you move out, remain at least five meters apart. If
these people see you moving closer together than that, or making actual bodily
contact by touching limbs, it won't precipitate a joining, but it will cause
them to feel deeply shocked and intensely uncomfortable. You must also
"Thank you, friend Wainright," Prilicla said gently. "We cannot be reminded
too often to be careful.
The Lieutenant's features deepened in color, and it did not speak again until,
walking i a well-separated line abreast, they were approaching the outskirts
of the town.
"It doesn't look like much to us," Wainright said softly, the feelings behind
its words making Prilicla tremble, "but they had to fight very hard every day
of their lives to achieve it, and I think they're losing.
The town occupied a wide crescent of grass and stony outcroppings enclosing a
small, natural harbor. There were several jetties projecting into deep water,
and most of the craft tied up alongside had thin, high funnels andpaddle
wheels as well as sails. One of the boats, clearly the legacy of a past
joining, was smoke-blackened and sunk at its moorings. Hugging the water's
edge was a widely separated line of three- and four-story buildings, made of
wood, stone, and dried clay. Ascending ramps running around all four walls
gave access to the upper levels, so that from certain angles the buildings
resembled thin pyramids.
These, according to the Goglesk tape, were the town's manufacturing and
food-processing facilities, and she thought that the smell of Gogleskan raw
fish was just as unpleasant as that of their Sommaradvan counterparts. Perhaps
that was the reason why the private ' dwellings, whose roofs and main
structural supports were provided by the trees around the edge of the
clearing, were so far away from the harbor.
As they moved over the top of a small hill, Wainright pointed out a low,
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partially roofed structure with a stream running under it. From their elevated
position they could see into the maze of corridors and tiny rooms that was the
town's hospital and Rhone's adjoiningdwelling.
The Lieutenant began speaking quietly into its suit mike, and she could hear
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