White, James – Sector General 05 – Sector General

“There are feelings of intense discomfort, friend Conway,” the empath said,

trembling violently. “Also of confusion, dis­appointment, and rejection. There

is background emotion, a combination of anxiety and curiosity, which is probably

re­garding their present surroundings.”

Because he could think of nothing to say, Conway moved to a position directly

between the forward and rear interfaces of the two CRLTs. He did not consider

the position dangerous because, if Prilicla’s emotional readings were correct,

they were unlikely to come together. He began examining the two interfaces, both

visually and with his x-ray scanner, and taking measurements. A few minutes

later Murchison joined him, and

Prilicla dropped to hover cautiously a few meters above the area.

“Even with unaided vision you can see that the two interfaces are not

compatible,” Conway said worriedly. “There are three areas which cannot be made

to join without surgical interven­tion. But I am reluctant to start cutting

without having a clearer idea of how to proceed. 1 wish I could obtain the

consent and cooperation of the patients.”

“That might be difficult,” Colonel Okaussie said. “But I could have my men try

to—”

“Lift them on tractor beams and force another contact,” Conway finished for him.

“I need one more attempted joining, at least, with vision recorders catching it

in close-up from the anterior, posterior, and lateral aspects. I also need

Prilicla to monitor their emotional radiation closely during the attempt so that

we will know which particular areas give the most dis­comfort and are,

therefore, most in need of surgical attention. During surgery, instead of using

an anesthetic, we can return them into hibernation. Yes, Doctor?”

“Have you considered, friend Conway—” began Prilicla, but Conway cut it short.

“Little friend,” he said, “I know of old your roundabout manner of expressing

disagreement as well as your feelings regarding the causing of unnecessary

discomfort to patients, and you know that I share those feelings. But much as I

dislike causing pain, in this case it is necessary.”

“Doctor Con way,” Colonel Okaussie said, with an impatient edge to his tone, “a

few moments ago I had been about to suggest that since the beings are fully

conscious, intelligent, and their visual range is similar to our own, we should

be able to obtain their cooperation by explaining the situation to them

graphically. I think it is worth a try.”

“It most certainly is,” Conway said. He caught Fletcher’s eye and muttered, “Now

why didn’t I think of that?”

Descartes’s commanding officer smiled and said, “I’ll have a projection screen

set up as quickly as possible, Doctor.” Conway began assembling the instruments

he would need while Murchison and Naydrad took over the job of measuring the

interfaces and Prilicla hovered above them radiating reassur­ance to the

patients.

It was a large screen, set between the angle of the*ceiling and the aft wall of

the hold so that the dorsally mounted eyes of both CRLTs would be able to view

it without distortion. Descartes’s officers were specialists in e-t

communications and the presentation was short, simple, and very much to the

point. The opening sequence was familiar since it was part of the material the

Fleet Commander had used during his recent brief­ing to Conway. It showed a

diagrammatic reconstruction of the CRLTs great, coillike interstellar transport

complete with central stem, coil supporting structure, thrusters, and guidance

system moving slowly against a starry backdrop. Suddenly a large meteor appeared

at the edge of the screen, heading directly’ for the coilship. It struck, moving

along the inside of the coil and carrying away the thrusters, guidance system,

and all of the central supporting structure for the continuous spiral of

hibernation compartments. The impact shook the coil apart, and the individual

hibernation cylinders, because of the vessel’s rotation, went flying off in all

directions like shrapnel from a slow-motion explosion.

Because of the greater rigidity of the structure aft, the shock in this area was

much more severe and the casualties among the hibernating CRLTs were heavy; the

cylinders whose oc­cupants had not survived were shown in red. Then there was a

two-minute shot of the scene as it actually was, with Ves­pasian, Claudius and

Descartes with a shoal of smaller vessels busy reassembling the coil followed by