White, James – Sector General 05 – Sector General

“We’ll be there,” Conway said, smiling at the eagerness in the other’s voice.

Fletcher wanted to look at the inside of that wrecked ship just as badly as

Conway wanted to investigate the internal workings of its crew. And if there

were survivors, Rhabwar would shortly be engaged in conducting another med­ial

first contact with all the hidden problems, both clinical and cultural, which

that implied.

Fletcher’s eagerness was underlined by the fact that he rather than Dodds took

the vehicle down and landed it in a ridiculously

small area of flat sand within one hundred meters of the wreck. From the surface

the wind-eroded rock outcroppings looked higher, sharper, and much more

dangerous, but the sandstorm had died down to a stiff breeze which lifted the

grains no more than a few feet above the ground. From the orbiting Rhabwar,

Haslam reported occasional wind flurries passing through their area which might

briefly inconvenience them.

One of the flurries struck while they were helping Naydrad unload the litter, a

bulky vehicle whose pressure envelope was capable of reproducing the gravity,

pressure, and atmosphere requirements of most of the known life-forms. Gravity

nullifiers compensated for the litter’s considerable weight, making it easily

manageable by one person, but when the sudden wind caught it, Naydrad, Dodds,

and Conway had to throw them­selves across it to keep it from blowing away.

“Sorry about this,” Lieutenant Dodds said, as if by studying the available

information on the planet he was somehow re­sponsible for its misdemeanors. “It

is about two hours before local midday here, and the wind usually dies down by

now. It remains calm until just before sunset, and again in the middle of the

night when there is a severe drop in temperature. The sandstorms after sunset

and before dawn are very bad and last for three to five hours, when outside work

would be very dangerous. Work during the night lull is possible but

inadvis­able. The local animal life is small arid omnivorous, but those thorn

carpets on the slope over there have a degree of mobility and have to be

watched, especially at night. I’d estimate five hours of daylight calm to

complete the rescue. If it takes longer than that, it would be better to spend

the night on Rhabwar and come back tomorrow.”

As the Lieutenant was speaking, the wind died again so that they were able to

see the wreck, the dark objects scattered around it, and the harsh, arid

landscape shimmering in the heat. Five hours should be more than enough to ferry

up the casualties to Rhabwar for preliminary treatment. Anything done for then)

down here would be done quickly, simple first aid.

“Did they bother to name this Godforsaken planet?” the Captain asked, stepping

down from the lander’s airlock.

Dodds hesitated, then said, “Trugdil, sir.”

Fletcher’s eyebrows rose, Murchison laughed, and they could

see agitated movements of Naydrad’s fur under its lightweight suit. It was the

Kelgian who spoke first.

“The trugdil,” it said, “is a species of Kelgian rodent with the particularly

nasty habit of—”

“I know,” the astrogator said quickly. “But it was a Kelgian-crewed Monitor

Corps scoutship which made the discovery. In the Corps it is customary for the

Captain of the discovering ship to give his, her, or its name to the world which

has been found. But in this instance the officer waived the right and offered it

to his subordinates in turn, all of whom likewise refused to give their names to

the planet. Judging by the name it ended with, they didn’t think much of the

place either. There was another case when—”

“Interesting,” Conway said quietly, “but we’re wasting time. Prilicla?”

Through his helmet phones, the empath’s voice replied at once. “I hear you,

friend Conway. Lieutenant Haslam is re­laying an overall picture of the area to

me through the telescope, and your helmet vision pickups enable me to see all

that you see. Standing by’.”

“Very good,” Conway said. To the others he went on, “Nay­drad will accompany me

with the litter. The rest of you split up and take a quick look at the other

casualties. If any of them are moving, or there are indications of recent