try to explain sarcasm or the Earth-human sense of humor to you, because we
don’t fullyunderstand them ourselves. For reasons that will become clearer the
longer you stay here, I rarely laugh.”
For some reason Chiang barked—laughed—again.
Ignoring it, O’Mara went on. “Senior Physician Edan-elt is satisfied regarding
your professional competence and suggests that I assign you to a suitable ward
as soon as possible. Before that happens you must become more familiar with the
layout, operation, and work of the hospital. You will find that it is a very
dangerous and frightening place to the uninformed. At present, that is you.”
“I understand,” Cha Thrat said.
“The people who will impart this very necessary information,” it went on, “are
of many different physiological types and medical and technical specialities.
They will range from Diagnosticians, Senior Physicians, and healers like, or
totally unlike, yourself, to nursing staff, and laboratory and maintenance
technicians. Some of them will be your medical or administrative superiors,
others will be nominally subordinate to you, but the knowledge they impart is
equally valuable. I’m told that you are averse to sharing patient
responsibility. While learning you may, at the discretion of the doctor in
charge, be allowed to practice, but under close supervision. Do you understand,
and agree?”
“1 do,” Cha Thrat said unhappily. It was going to be her first year in the
School for Warrior-Surgeons on Sommaradva all over again but, hopefully, without
the attendant nonmedical problems.
“This interview,” O’Mara went on, “will not decide whether or not you are
accepted as a permanent member of the hospital staff. I cannot tell you what or
what not to do in every situation that will arise; you must learn by observation
and attention to the words of your tutors and decide that for yourself. But if
there are really serious problems that you are unable to solve for yourself,
youmay come to me for guidance. Naturally, the fewer visits you make to this
office the better disposed I shall feel toward you. I shall be receiving
continuous reports on your progress, or lack of it, and it is these that will
decide whether or not you remain here.”
It paused briefly and moved the digits of one hand through*the short gray
head-fur. She watched carefully but saw no sign of dislodged parasites, and
decided that the movement was an unthinking one.
“This interview,” O’Mara continued, “is intended to explore some of the
nonmedical aspects of your treatment of Chiang. In the short time available I
would like to learn as much as possible about you as a person: your feelings,
motivations, fears, likes, and dislikes, that sort of thing. Is there any area
in which you would not want to answer questions, or would give obscure or false
answers, because of moral or parental or community tribal conditioning during
childhood or maturity? I must warn you that I am capable of detecting a lie,
even the weird and wonderfully complicated lies that some of our
extraterrestrials tell, but it takes time and 1 have none of thatto waste.”
She thought for a moment, then said, “There are matters involving sexual
encounters that I would rather not discuss, but all other answers will be
complete andtruthful.”
“Good!” O’Mara said. “I have no intention of entering that area and, hopefully,
may never have to do so. At present I am interested in your thoughts and
feelings between the time you first saw your patient and the decision to
operate, any relevant discussion between the healer who was first on the scene
and yourself, and the reason for the delay in starting the operation when you
did take charge. If you had any strong feelings at thattime, please describe and
explain them if you can, and speak as the thoughts come to you.”
For a moment Cha Thrat tried to recall her exact feelings at the time, then she
said, “I was spending but not enjoying an enforced vacation in the area, because
I would have preferred to continue working in my hospital instead of trying to
devise ways of wasting time. When I heard of the accident I was almost pleased,
thinking at first that the survivor was a Sommaradvan, and there was proper work