White, James – Sector General 05 – Sector General

kind of surgery performed there, whether the patient was Earth-human or

extraterrestrial, tended to be curative rather than cosmetic. It felt very

strange to Conway, and he knew that his feelings were being shared by the other

members of the team, to be operating on a perfectly healthy e-t with the purpose

of simply modifying the size and contours of certain physiological features. But

the operation itself was far from simple.

The greater proportion of the surgical work had to be per­formed on the second

alien whose forward nerve coupling cone was too wide at its base to be retained

by the sphincter muscle surrounding the corresponding orifice in the first CRLT.

With the semiflexible tongue and groove connection which joined the two beings’

locomotor nerve networks, the solution was much simpler. The deep recess in the

first alien was surgically widened until measurement showed that it would

accommodate the tongue comfortably, after which reinforcing sutures were

inserted to prevent further accidental widening. But the four triangular flaps

with their bony, hooklike extensions posed a completely different and more

difficult problem.

Together the four members formed the principal organic coupling which held the

considerable mass of the second e-t against the first, and they did not fit

because the hooks did not quite reach the apertures meant to receive them.

Elongating the four triangular members was contraindicated since this would have

entailed surgical interference and con­sequent serious weakening of the muscle

systems concerned, and they could not foresee the effect on the network of blood

vessels which became engorged and extended the members to quadruple their size

when the being returned to consciousness.

Instead they made molds of the four hooks and made artificial ones using a hard,

biologically neutral plastic at the tips and a wide band of thinner, more

flexible material around the bases. The result was a set of hollow, hook-tipped

gloves which, when a little of the original hooks were filed away to make them

fit, were slipped over the original members and secured in position with rivets

and sutures.

Suddenly there was nothing left to do, but hope.

Above the two unconscious CRLTs the vision screen was displaying an overall

picture of their coilship, complete now except for the segments whose occupants

were awaiting sur­gical attention, and the dense but orderly mass of shipping

moving in and around it. The thought came to Conway, no matter how hard he tried

to avoid it, that the tremendous fleet of Monitor Corps and other units, from

the great capital ships and auxiliaries down to the swarms of scoutships and the

army of specialists in engineering and communications they repre­sented, were

all wasting their time here if this particular op­eration was not a success.

For this responsibility he had argued long and eloquently with Thornnastor,

O’Mara, and Skempton at Sector General. He must have been mad.

Harshly, he said, “Wake them up.”

They watched anxiously as once again the two CRLTs came out of hibernation and

began moving toward each other. They touched once, a brief, exploratory contact,

then they fused. Where there had been two massive, twenty-meter caterpillarlike

creatures there was now one of twice that length.

The join was visible, of course, but one had to look very carefully to see it.

Conway forced himself to wait for ten in­terminable seconds, and still they had

not pulled away from each other.

“Prilicla?”

“They are feeling pain, friend Conway,” the empath replied, trembling slightly.

“It is within bearable limits. There are also feelings of acceptance and

gratitude.”

Conway gave a relieved sigh which ended in an enormous, eye-watering yawn. He

rubbed his eyes and said, “Thank you, everyone. Put them back to sleep, check

the sutures, and reseal them in their hibernation cylinders. They will not have

to link up again until after the landing, by which time the wounds should have

healed to a large extent so that the fusion will be more comfortable for them.

As for ourselves, I prescribe eight hours solid sleep before—”

He broke off abruptly as the features of Fleet Commander Dermod appeared on the

screen.

“You appear to have successfully repaired a major break in our alien chain,

Doctor,” he said seriously, “but the time taken to do so was not short. There