Will it report you to Cresk-Sar?”
“I don’t know,” Cha Thrat replied. “After we’d finished the evening surgical
round, it said that I should take myself out of its sight for the next two days,
and no doubt I would enjoy that as much as it would. Did I tell you that it
allows me to change some of the surgical dressings now? Under its supervision,
of course, and the wounds concerned are almost healed.”
“Well,” Tarsedth said, “your trouble can’t be too serious if it’s having you
back again. What are you going to do with your two days? Study?”
“Not all the time,” she replied. “1 want to explore the hospital, the areas
where my protective suit will take me,that is. Cresk-Sar’s high-speed tour and
lecture sessions don’t give me enough time to stop and ask questions.”
The Kelgian dropped another three or four sets of limbs to the floor, a clear
indication that it was about to leave.
“You’ll be living dangerously, Cha Thrat,” it said. “I’m content to learn about
this medical madhouse a little at a time; that way I’m less likely to end up as
one of the casualties. But I’ve been told that the recreation level is well
worth a visit. You could start your explorations from there. Coming?”
“Yes,” she said. “There at least the heavies will be relaxing and at rest, and
not charging along the corridors like mobile disasters waiting to happen to us.”
Later, Cha Thrat was to wonder how she could have been so wrong.
The signs over the entrance read:recreation level, species DBDG, DBLF, DBPK,
DCNF, EGCL, ELNT, FGLI, & FROB. species GKMN & GLNO at own risk.
For members of the staff whose written languages were not represented, the same
information was repeated endlessly via translator.
“DCNF,” Tarsedth said. “They’ve got your classification up there already.
Probably a routine updating by Personnel.”
“Probably,” Cha Thrat said. But she felt very pleased and, for the first time,
important.
After days spent in crowded hospital corridors, her tiny room, and the even more
cramped confines of the suit she had to wear in the tepid, green depths of the
AUGL ward, the sheer size of the place made her feel insecure and unsteady. But
the spaciousness, the opensky, and the long distances were apparent rather than
real, she soon realized, and the initial shock diminished quickly to become a
feeling of pleased surprise.
Trick lighting and some inspired landscaping had given the recreation level its
illusion of tremendous spaciousness. The overall effect was of a small tropical
beach enclosed on two sides by cliffs and open to a sea that stretched out to a
horizon rendered indistinct by heat haze. The sky was blue and cloudless, and
the water of the bay was deep blue shading to turquoise where the waves ran onto
the bright, golden sand of the beach.
Only the light from the artificial sun, which was too reddish for Cha Thrat’s
taste, and the alien greenery fringing the beach and cliffs kept it from looking
like a tropical bay anywhere on Sommaradva.
But then, space was at a premium in Sector General, she had been told before her
first visit to the dining hall, and the people who worked together had to eat
together. Now it seemed that they were expected to play togetheras well.
“Realistic cloud effects are difficult to reproduce,” Tarsedth volunteered, “so
rather than risk them looking artificial, they don’t bother trying. The
Maintenance person who suggested I come here told me that. It also said that the
best thing about the place was that the gravity was maintained at half
Earth-normal, which is close enough to half Kelgia- and Sommaradva-normal. The
people who like to rest actively can be more active, and the others find the
sand softer to lie on—Watch out!”
Three Tralthans on a total of eighteen massive feet went thundering past them
and plowed into the shallows, scattering sand and spray over a wide area. The
half-G conditions that allowed the normally slow and ponderous FGLIs to jump
about like bipeds also kept the sand theyhad disturbed airborne for a long time
before it settled back to the beach. Some of it had not settled because Cha