White, James – Sector General 05 – Sector General

underbelly in a direction they were not, perhaps, designed to bend, and he hated

to think of what the dust and dirt adhering to the plastic might be doing to

that open wound.

The same thought must have been going through the Orli­gian’s head, because it

said, “Maybe we’ll find another Kelgian who isn’t too badly hurt and knows what

to do.”

But it was a long time before they found another Kelgian— at least, it felt like

an hour even though the big and, strangely, still-functioning lounge clock,

whose face was divided into concentric rings marked off in the time units of the

major Federation worlds, insisted that it-was only ten minutes.

One of the Hudlars had lifted wreckage from two of the crablike Melfans, one of

whom was coherent, seemingly un­injured but unable to see because of the

chlorine or dust. Graw-lya-Ki spoke reassuringly to it and led it away by

grasping a thick, fleshy projection, purpose unknown, growing from its

head. The other Melfan made loud, untranslatable noises. Its carapace was

cracked in several places and of the three legs which should have supported it

on one side, two were limp and useless and one was missing altogether.

MacEwan bent down quickly and slipped his hands and lower arms under the edge of

the carapace between the two useless legs and lifted until the body was at its

normal walking height. Immediately the legs on the other side began moving

slowly. MacEwan sidled along at the same pace, supporting the injured side and

guiding the Melfan around intervening wreckage until he was able to leave it

beside its blinded col­league.

He could think of nothing more to do for it, so he rejoined the Hudlar

excavating among the heavier falls of debris.

They uncovered three more Melfans, injured but ambula­tory, who were directed to

the boarding tunnel entrance, and a pair of the elephantine, six-legged

Tralthans who appeared to be uninjured but were badly affected by the gas which

was still leaking steadily from the transporter. MacEwan and Graw-lya-Ki each

held a Nidian breathing mask to one breathing orifice and yelled at them to

close the other. Then they tried desperately not to be trampled underfoot as

they guided the Tralthans to the casualty assembly point. Then they uncovered

two more of the Kelgian caterpillars, one of whom had ob­viously bled to death

from a deep tear in its flank. The other had five of its rearmost sets of legs

damaged, rendering it immobile, but it was conscious and able to cooperate by

holding its body rigid while they carried it back to the others.

When MacEwan asked the being if it could help the earlier Kelgian casualty he

had tried to bandage, it said that it had no medical training and could think of

nothing further to do.

There were more walking, wriggling, and crawling wounded released from the

wreckage to join the growing crowd of cas­ualties at the tunnel entrance. Some

of them were talking but most were making loud, untranslatable noises which had

to be of pain. The sounds made by the casualties still trapped by fallen

wreckage were slight by comparison.

The Hudlars were working tirelessly and often invisibly in a cloud of

self-created dust, but now they seemed to be un-

covering only organic wreckage of which there was no hope of salvage. There was

another Kelgian who had bled spectac­ularly to death; two, or it may have been

three, Melfans with crushed and shattered carapaces and broken limbs, and a

Tral-than who had been smashed flat by a collapsing roof beam and was still

trying to move.

MacEwan was afraid to touch any of them in case they fell apart in his hands,

but he could not be absolutely sure that they were beyond help. He had no idea

of their ability to survive major injury, or whether specialized medical

intervention could save them if taken in time. He felt angry and useless and the

chlorine was beginning to penetrate his face mask.

“This being appears to be uninjured,” the Hudlar beside them said. It had lifted

a heavy table from a Tralthan who was lying on its side, its six massive legs