White, James – Sector General 07 – Code Blue Emergency

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