White, James – Sector General 05 – Sector General

more than half asleep, like mine.” “And mine,” Naydrad joined in.

Con way, who had been trying not to think of how long it had been since he had

last eaten or slept, decided that the best way to deal with an impending mutiny

among his overworked medics was to ignore it. He indicated a small area on the

rear interface of the first alien, midway between the central conical depression

and the upper rim of the interface, then pointed to the corresponding area on

the forward face of the second one. He said, “We can safely ignore these

reproductive organs in both creatures, since this kind of link-up is temporary

and physiologically independent of the parent-offspring fusion mechanism. As 1

see it the three areas we must concentrate on are the central conical projection

and its corresponding recess, which are the connecting points for the central

nerve core and our primary concern. Second is this narrow, semirigid tongue with

the fleshy mushroom at its tip which locates with this slit in the other—”

“That connection is also of vital importance,” Murchison broke in, “since it

links up the nerve networks controlling the voluntary and involuntary muscles

which move each CRLTs legs and enable the group entity to walk in unison. There

would be small advantage to the group entity if it could share men­tation but a

number of its segments were unable to walk.” “Friend Murchison,” Prilicla said

timidly, “it seems to me that the original nerve impulse from the head segment,

or whichever individual CRLT was responsible for initiating the movement, would

not be sufficiently strong to trigger the am­bulatory muscles throughout the

enormous length of this group entity.”

“That is true,” the pathologist replied. “But there is an organic amplifier,

consisting of a bunching of nerve ganglia situated just above the womb, or the

position where the womb had been in the males, in an area where the surrounding

tissue has a high mineral content and is particularly rich in copper salts. This

biological booster ensures that the ambulatory mus­cles receive their signals

with undiminished strength throughout the length of the chain.”

“Third,” Conway said, raising his voice slightly to dis­courage further

interruptions, “there are these four flaps of muscle which terminate at their

apexes in osseous hooks which locate in these four bone-reinforced orifices in

the second crea­ture. This is the primary mechanism by which the individual

segments are held together nose to tail, and in this instance—”

“It is also the method by which the CRLT female at the end of the line held onto

its developing offspring,” Murchison broke in again. “At that stage the

offspring had no choice in the matter. But as it matured, produced its own

offspring, and moved farther up the line I feel sure that voluntary separation

became possible. In fact, separation would be necessary during activities which

did not require the entire group entity for their performance.”

“That is most interesting, friend Murchison,” Prilicla said. “I should think

that the first time such a voluntary separation took place a certain amount of

psychological trauma would be present. It would be analogous to a coming-of-age

ceremony, perhaps, even though the separation might not be permanent—”

Before Conway could speak, Prilicla fell silent and began trembling in reaction

to the Doctor’s feelings of irritation and impatience. He said, “This is all

very interesting, friends, but we do not have the time just now for a general

discussion. In any case, following the type of temporary separation you

men­tioned, the young adult would rejoin its original parent segment and not a—I

suppose you could describe it as an ancestor seventeen times removed, which is

the problem currently facing us. And now, if you don’t mind, we will concentrate

on this problem and on the surgical procedures necessary to solve it.

“Feel free to interrupt at any time,” he added dryly.

But the interruptions were few and pertinent, and very soon it became obvious

even to the watching tractor beamers, Des-cartes’s commanding officer, and Fleet

Commander Dermod, whose face appeared briefly but with increasing frequency on

the overhead screen, that the medical team was also working hard.

Because Sector General was the Federation’s foremost emer­gency hospital, the