White, James – Sector General 05 – Sector General

movement, call Pathologist Murchison or me at once.”

As they moved off he added, “It is important that we don’t waste time on

cadavers at the expense of possible survivors. But be careful. This is a new

life-form to us, and we are likewise strange to it. Physically we may resemble

something it fears, and there is the added factor of the survivor being weak, in

pain, and mentally confused. Guard against an instinctive, vi­olent reaction

from them which, in normal circumstances, would not occur.” He stopped talking

because the others were already fanning our and the first casualty, lying very

still and partly covered by sand, was only a few meters away.

As Naydrad helped him scoop sand from around the body Conway saw that the being

was six-limbed, with a stubby, cylindrical torso with a spherical head at one

end and possibly a tail at the other extremity, although the severity of the

injuries made it difficult to be sure. The two forelimbs terminated in

long, flexible digits. There were two recognizable eyes, par­tially concealed by

heavy lids, and various slits and orifices which were doubtless aural and

olfactory sensors and the open­ings for respiration and ingestion. The tegument,

which was pale brown shading to a deeper, reddish color on its top surface,

showed many incised wounds and abrasions which had bled freely but had since

congealed and become encrusted with sand—perhaps the sand had assisted in the

process of coag­ulation. Even the large wound at the rear, which looked as if it

might be the result of a traumatic amputation, was remarkably dry.

Conway bent closer and began going over the body with his scanner. There was no

evidence of fracturing or of damaged or displaced organs, so far as he could

see, so the being could” be moved without risk of complicating its injuries.

Naydrad was waiting with the litter to see whether it was a survivor for

immediate loading or a cadaver for later dissection, when Con-way’s scanner’s

sensors detected cardiac activity, extremely feeble but undoubtedly present, and

respiration so slow and shallow that he had almost missed it.

“Are you getting this, Prilicla?” he said.

“Yes, friend Conway,” replied the empath. “A most inter­esting life-form.”

“There is considerable tissue wastage,” he went on, still using the scanner.

“Possibly the result of dehydration. And there is a similarity in degree and

type of the injuries which I find strange…” He trailed off into silence as

Naydrad helped him lift the casualty into the litter.

“No doubt it has already occurred to you, friend Conway,” Prilicla said, using

the form of words which was the closest it ever came to suggesting that someone

had missed the obvious, “that the dehydration and the deeper coloration on the

upper areas of the epidermis may be connected with local environ­mental factors,

and the redness is due to sunburn.”

It had not occurred to Conway, but fortunately the emotional radiation

associated with his embarrassment was well beyond the range of the empath. He

indicated the litter and said, “Nay­drad, don’t forget to fit the sun filter.”

In his phones he heard Murchison laughing quietly, then she said, “It hadn’t

occurred to me, either, so don’t feel bad

about it. But I have a couple of beasties over here I’d like you to look at.

Both are alive, just barely, with a’large number of incised wounds. There is a

great disparity in mass between them, and the arrangement of the internal organs

in the large one is, well, peculiar. For instance, the alimentary canal is—”

“Right now,” Conway broke in, “we must concentrate on separating the living and

the dead. Detailed examinations and discussions will have to wait until we’re

back on the ship, so spend as little time as possible on each one. But I know

how you feel—my casualty has some peculiarities as well.”

“Yes, Doctor,” she replied coldly, in spite of his half apol­ogy. Pathologists,

even beautiful ones like Murchison, he thought, were strange people.

“Captain? Lieutenant Dodds?” he said irritably. “Any other survivors?”

“I haven’t been looking at them closely, Doctor,” Retcher replied. There was an

odd harshness in his voice. Possibly the condition of the crash victims was