White, James – Sector General 05 – Sector General

technical, and you might as well have been talking untranslated Kelgian so far

as I was concerned.”

Conway laughed quietly and said, “Then I had better trans­late.”

The alien vessel had released, its distress beacon, he ex­plained, not because

of a technical malfunction but because of serious illness on board which had

affected the entire crew. Presumably the least affected crew members were on

duty on the Control Deck while the rest were confined to their ham­mocks. It was

still not clear why the ship had to put down on a planet. Possibly there were

physiological reasons why a plan­etary gravity or atmosphere was needed, or

maybe the weight­less conditions on board aggravated the condition and they

could not provide artificial gravity by using their thrusters be­cause the crew

were fast losing consciousness. Whatever the reason they had made an emergency

landing on Trugdil. There

were much better landing sites on the planet, but their degree of urgency must

have been extreme and they had landed here.

Conway broke off as they entered the Control Deck because Murchison was high

above them closing the personnel hatch. She said, “Don’t let me interrupt you,

but now that we will be using the cutting torches in a confined space, I’m going

to take the patient off pure oxygen. It seems to be breathing easily now. Would

one part oxygen to four inert.be suitable, Doctor?”

“Fine,” Conway said. “I’ll help you.”

The hissing of sand against the outer hull rose suddenly and the whole ship

seemed to lurch sideways. There was a screech­ing and banging sound from

amidships, which halted suddenly as a section of hull plating tore free and blew

away.

“A piece of the wreck has blown away,” Dodds reported unnecessarily, then went

on, “The thorn patches have halted over the food containers, and those nearby

are converging on the area. But there are other large clumps off to the side

which are still heading directly for the wreck. They are moving quite fast. The

wind is behind them and they are letting it carry them forward using only enough

of their root system to maintain a loose hold on the ground. At this rate they

could be at the ship in half an hour.”

It was as if an enormous, soft pillow struck the side of the ship. The deck

tilted under their feet, then righted itself. This time it sounded as if maniacs

with sledgehammers were at­tacking three different sections of the hull until, a

few seconds later, the banging ceased. But to the sound of the sand beating

against the hull plating was added the discordant moaning and whistling of the

wind as it forced its way into the wreck.

“Our defenses,” the Captain said worriedly, “have become decidedly porous. But

go on, Doctor.”

“The ship made an emergency landing here,” Conway re­sumed, “because they had no

time to look for a better spot. It was a good landing, all things considered,

and it was sheer bad luck that they toppled and as a result ruptured that

hydraulic reservoir. If they hadn’t done so it is possible that their illness,

whatever the cause, would have run its course and in time they would have taken

off again. Or maybe the first sandstorm would have knocked them over anyway. But

instead they crash-landed and found themselves suddenly in a wreck which was

rapidly

filling with toxic fumes. Weakened by their condition as they were, they had to

get out fast and, because the escape routes aft led past the source of the

contaminant and were partly blocked by wreckage from the fall, they had to

evacuate through the Control Deck here and along the upper surface of the hull,

then slide to the ground.

“They injured themselves very seriously in doing so,” Con-way added.

He paused for a moment to help Murchison change over the patient’s air supply.

From the stern there was a clanking sound which reverberated steadily and

monotonously throughout the ship. One of the pieces of wreckage was refusing to

become detached. Conway raised his voice.

“The reason they did not move far from their ship was probably two-fold,” he

continued. “As a result of the debili­tating effects of their illness, they did