had perished, been torn apart or eaten during every such encounter, and the
consequent and oft-repeated death agonies of the slain had been shared
telepathically by every single member of the groups. In an attempt to reduce
their suffering, the effects of the group telepathy had been diluted by the
generation of a mindless urge to destroy indiscriminately everything within
reach. But even so, the mental scars inflicted during their prehistory had not
healed.
Once heard, the audible signal emitted by Gogleskans in distress that triggered
the process could not be ignored ‘ at either the conscious or unconscious
levels, because that call to join represented only one thing—the threat of
ultimate danger. And even in present times, when such threats were imaginary or
insignificant, it made no difference. A joining led inevitably to the mindless
destruction of everything in their immediate vicinity—housing, vehicles,
mechanisms, books, or art objects—that they had been able to build or accomplish
as individuals.
That was why the present-day Gogleskans would not allow, except on very rare
occasions, anyone to touch or come close to them or even address them in
anything but the most impersonal terms, while they fought helplessly and, until
Conway’s recent visit to the planet, hopelessly against the conditioning imposed
on them by evolution.
It was plain to Cha Thrat that the only subjects that the medical team wanted to
discuss were the Gogleskan problems in general and Khone in particular, and they
talked about them endlessly and without arriving anywhere except back to where
they had started. Several times she had wanted to make suggestions or ask
questions, but found that if she kept quiet and waited patiently, a form of
behavior that had always been foreignto her nature, the ideas and the questions
were suggested! and answered by one of the others.
Usually it was Naydrad who asked such questions, although much less politely
than Cha Thrat would have j done.
“Conway should be here,” the Kelgian said, fur ruffling in disapproval. “It made
a promise to the patient J There should be no excuses.”
The yellow-pink face of Pathologist Murchison deepened in color. On the ceiling
Prilicia’s iridescent wings were quivering in response to the emotional
radiation being generated below, but neither the empath nor the female
Earth-human spoke.
“It is my understanding,” Danalta said suddenly, moving the eye it had extruded
to regard the Kelgian, “that Conway was successful in breaching the conditioning
of just one Gogleskan, by an accidental, dangerous, and unprecedented joining of
minds. For this reason the Diagnostician is the only other-species being who has
any chance of approaching the patient closely, much less of touching it before
or during the birth. Even though the call came much earlier than expected, there
must be many others in the hospital who are capable and willing to take over the
Diagnostician’s workload for the few days necessary for the trip.
“I, too, think that Conway should have come with us,” the shape-changer ended.
“Khone is its friend, and it promised to do so.”
While Danalta was speaking, Murchison’s face had retained the deep-pink
coloration except for patches of whiteness around its lips, and it was obvious
from Prilicla’s trembling that the Pathologist’s emotional radiation was
anything but pleasant for an empath.
“I agree with you,” Murchison said in a tone that suggested otherwise, ”that
nobody, not even the Diagnosti-cian-in-Charge of Surgery, is indispensable. And
rm not defending him simply because he happens to be my life-mate. He can call
for assistance from quite a few of the Senior Physicians who are capable of
performing the work. But not quickly, not while surgery is actually in progress.
And the briefings for his operating schedule would have taken time, two hours at
least. The Goglesk call had the Most Urgent prefix. We had to leave at once,
without him.”
Danalta did not reply, but Naydrad’s fur made discontented waves as the Kelgian
said, “Is this the only excuse Conway gave you for breaking its promise to the
patient? If so, it is unsatisfactory. We have all had expe-‘rience with
emergencies arising that necessitated people doing other people’s work, without
notice or detailed briefings. There is a lack of consideration being shownfor