White, James – Sector General 05 – Sector General

sur­vivors or ourselves, let me know at once. Very soon Dodds will be taking off

with the lander and—”

“Naydrad and the casualties,” Murchison ended for him. Quietly but firmly she

went on, “Your theory scares hell out of me, Captain, but it is still only a

theory. You’ve admitted as much yourself. The facts are that there are a large

number of casualties all around us. They don’t know it yet but they are entitled

to the protection of Federation law. Whether their injuries are due to the crash

or to being carved up by some psychopathic or temporarily deranged alien, they

are also en­titled, under that same law, to all necessary medical assistance.”

The Captain looked toward the lander where the Pathologist was still working on

the specimen, then back to the Doctor.

“I’ve nothing to add,” Conway said.

Fletcher remained silent while Murchison completed her investigation and Dodds

and Naydrad transferred two casualties into the lander. He did not speak while

the vehicle was taking off or when Conway selected a spot under a large

outcropping of rock which would give waiting casualties shelter from the sun and

windblown sand. Neither did he offer to help them carry the injured e-ts to the

assembly point even though, without the litter, it was hot, back-breaking work.

Instead he moved among the e-ts with his vision pickup, recording them

indi­vidually before and after the ground had been disturbed around ftem by

Murchison and Conway, and always positioning him­self between the two medics and

the wreck.

Plainly the Captain was taking his strange, new role as a Policeman and

protector of the innocent bystanders very seri­ously indeed.

The cooling unit in his suit did not seem to be working very *eH and Conway

would have loved to open his visor for a few

minutes. But doing that, even in the shelter of the outcropping, would have

meant letting in a lot of windblown sand.

“Let’s rest for a while,” he said as they placed another casualty beside its

fellows. “Time we had a talk with Prilicla.”

“That is a pleasure at any time, friends Murchison and Conway,” the empath said

promptly. “While I am, of course, beyond the range of the emotional radiation

being generated down there, I sympathize and hope that your feelings of anxiety

about the criminal are not too unpleasant.”

“Our feelings of bewilderment are much stronger,” Conway said dryly. “But maybe

you can help relieve them by going over our information, incomplete as it is,

before the first cas­ualties reach you.”

There was still a little doubt about the accuracy of the phys­iological

classifications, Conway explained, but there were three separate but related

types—DCLG, DCMH, and DCOJ. The wounds fell into two general categories, incised

and abraded wounds which could have resulted when the ship’s occupants were

hurled against sharp-edged metal during the crash, and a traumatic amputation of

major limbs which was so prevalent among the casualties that an explanation

other than the crash was needed to explain them.

All of the survivors had body temperatures significantly greater than the norm

for warm-blooded oxygen breathers, in­dicating a high metabolic rate and a

hyperactive life-form. This was supported by the uniformly deep state of

unconsciousness displayed by all of the casualties, and the evidence of

dehy­dration and malnutrition. Beings who burned up energy rapidly rarely

lingered in a semiconscious state. There were also signs that the beings had an

unusual ability to control bleeding from severe wounds. Coagulation in the

incised wounds, perhaps assisted by the presence of the sand, was rapid but not

abnor­mally so, while the stumps at the amputation sites showed little evidence

of bleeding.

“Supportive treatment to relieve the dehydration and mal­nutrition is all that

can be done until we get them to the hos­pital,” Conway went on. “Murchison has

already specified the nutrients suited to their metabolism. You can also insert

sutures as you see fit. If the load is too great for you, which in my opinion it

is, retain Naydrad and send down only the pilot with

the litter. Murchison can ride with the casualties on the next trip. She will

stay with you while Naydrad comes down for the last batch.”