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un--onscious brain activity, chose a favorite breakfast from his food
ispenser, then spent a few moments on the improvement of his Appearance. He
used an aromatic sponge to oil and polish his head, thorax, exoskeleton, and
limbs, even though he knew that nobody on the ship would notice any
difference, before he con-tacted the casualty deck.
Danalta reported that all three patients were in a stable and clinically
satisfactory condition, and that they remained deeply unconscious with the
monitors registering a slight but continuing improvement in life signs.
Prilicla's empathic read-ings gave confirmation. Murchison and Naydrad were
still in their quarters and emitting the emotional radiation character-istic
of deep and undisturbed sleep. He decided to leave them in that condition, and
face the coming confrontation with the captain without their moral
support always bearing in mind, he reminded himself dryly as he pressed the
communicator stud, that for a Cinrusskin a very gentle and flattering attack
was the best form of defense.
"Friend Fletcher," he began as the other's face appeared on his screen, "you
displayed great sensitivity, understanding and kindness in allowing me to rest
my fragile body and mind before discussing your own urgent concerns. But
before we do so, you will be pleased to know that the clinical condition of
the three injured officers is stable and their prognoses give grounds for
guarded optimism. At present they are deeply unconscious and are likely to
remain in that condition for many hours, perhaps up to few days. Following
massive trauma that stops short of termination, you Earth-human DBDGs have a
great capacity for physical and psychological recuperation, and in the present
sit-uation it is the mental aspect which must be given consideration if useful
information is to be obtained from them.
"However," he continued quickly, "should an attempt be made to revive one of
them prematurely, the consequent with-drawal of their anesthetic medication
would have two effects. The sudden return to high levels of pain, combined
with the medication-induced mental confusion, would render the neces-sarily
short conversation with them, especially any specific, technical information
they might try to give you during ques-tioning, of doubtful value. As well,
the general shock to their systems might cause them to terminate before they
were able to produce sense-bearing sounds.
"Other than the clinical condition of my patients, friend Fletcher," he ended,
"was there anything else you wanted to dis-cuss with me?"
The captain remained silent for a long moment, then he heard it give a long
sigh. Even though the emotional range was extreme, he could almost feel the
disappointment that accom-panied it.
"Dr. Prilicla," it said finally, "my primary need is for infor-mation
regarding the reasons for the earlier abnormal behavior of your patients.
You've effectively closed the first and most ob-vious source by pulling
medical rank on me, for which we are all relieved. But I still need that
information, urgently.
Can you sug-gest another source?"
This time it was Prilicla's turn to be silent.
"Perhaps you are not yet mentally awake, Doctor," it went on. "Let me remind
you
file:///F|/rah/James%20White/White,%20James%...or%20General%2012%20-%20Double%
20Contact.txt (43 of 144) [5/21/03 10:31:16 PM]
file:///F|/rah/James%20White/White,%20James%20-%20Sector%20General%2012%20-%20
Double%20Contact.txt that we're here in answer to three dis-tress calls. Two
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
of them may or may not have been due to the discharge of weapons by or at the
alien ship, and the third was a standard subspace distress beacon released by
Terragar which was later augmented by what seemed to be hand-signaled
warn-ings to stay clear of the alien vessel. As the ambulance ship in
attendance, Rhabwar is expected to report on the disaster and the action being
taken to deal with it, or to request and specify the help needed if we are
incapable of handling the problem ourselves. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]