`I’d best do the engineering,’ Tikele told him gruffly and he went on to recommend officers in the other disciplines. `Sedallia can help, too.’ Thian was both surprised and pleased by such cooperation: this could be a chance to probe two suspects. Both engineers were so enthusiastic and involved in the task that he found it hard to consider either of them as his private `Malevolence’: that personality was much too negative about so many aspects that were raised in the language lessons.
Malevolence was negative in all comments so far.
Then, just as he was beginning to be easy with the established routine, several incidents occurred. The first happened in sickbay.
Or rather the aftermath of it came to his notice in sickbay.
Although the air on the Vadim was slowly improving, Mur occasionally had bouts with dehydration hiccups which were eased by immersion. On instructions from Sbl, Commander Exeter had kept the treatment water from the first bath and, when needed, Thian took Mur down to sickbay for another session. They arrived at the facility to find shore police on guard, looking exceedingly stern. Sickbay itself was packed with personnel. The bruisings, black eyes, broken noses, split lips and skulls and several men nursing damaged hands, arms and fingers left no doubt in Thian’s mind that there had been a major brawl.
In his surprise, he let down his shields and was bombarded by active hatred and such negative emanations that he was nearly ill. But he couldn’t ignore Mur’s condition.
Chopping off all natural empathy, he worked his way towards Gravy who was cleaning the blood from a burly gunner’s face. Her public mind was vivid with disgust for the stupidity which led grown men to beat each other to pulp for the sheer exercise of brute force, and an earnest wish that head wounds didn’t bleed so profusely. Thian `put’ a finger on the artery that was producing the flood so he could find out from her where Mur’s water-cask was stored.
`Thian, you don’t know anything about first aid, do you?’ she asked, giving him a distraught smile, her expression anxious.
`Enough to help out, I think,’ he said, `but only after I’ve got Mur in the bath again.’ She rolled her very expressive pale green eyes.
`We’ve no place to put him – it, not with all these here and, honest, Thian,’ she said in agitation, `you don’t want your friend anywhere near these clods.’ `No, I don’t.’ Just to be sure his `friends’ might not be part of whatever argument occasioned the brawl, he shot a quick look behind her public mind.
She had such a genuine caring personality that it was not an intrusion. To his relief, the melee had started over some perfectly innocuous statement which was taken up wrongly by men too long in each other’s company with no relief. `We can just-manage the bath in my cabin, I think. Show me where it is,’ he added, dropping his lips close to her ear.
She blinked, squidged her eyes shut in an effort to concentrate on its position in the storeroom and he chuckled.
`Gotcha, and thanks, he said, moving away.
Foremost in Gravy’s mind was the wish for an extra pair of hands right now to stop bleeding, check for skull depressions or other less obvious and internal results of the fierce, if short, confrontation.
Thian knew that he could be of some assistance, even if no-one would ever be aware of it – which was probably the best way to handle his intervention.
First Mur had to be taken care of so he `grabbed’ the cask and the bath and shoved them up to his cabin. He collected Mur and Dip who had waited in the corridor with the statuesque SPs, and urged them on to the next empty passage.
I MUST HELP MEDICS. DPL, BATH AND TANK ARE NOW IN CABIN, CAN DPL MANAGE NECESSARY ARRANGEMENTS FOR MRG?
HAVING OBSERVED THEM, IT IS EASILY DONE.
I SEND YOU THERE.
MRG NEEDS BATH. DPL MANAGES. Th NEEDED MORE HERE TO BLOT HUMAN FACES STITCH HUMAN WOUNDS SET HUMAN ARMS. And Dip made shooing gestures with its upper extremities.
`Dini humour was usually unexpected and Thian grinned ppredatively. Then, very carefully, he `ported his friends to the now tight confines of his cabin where Mur could bathe in peace.