not expected that the devices would eliminate joinings entirely, but with
sensitive audio detectors coupled to automatic actuators, it was hoped that the
link-ups that did occur would be limited to a few persons. That would mean that
a joining’s destructive potential would be negligible, shorter in duration, and
psychologically less damaging to the beings concerned.
Under laboratory conditions the distorters were effective against several FOKT
distress call recordings pro-* vided by Conway, but the device had yet to be
tested onGoglesk itself.
The stink of fish worsened, and the sound of the monitors broadcasting the
Lieutenant’s message grew louder as they neared the hospital. Apart from a few
glimpses she had of the Earth-humans moving between the houses at the edge of
the clearing, there were no signs of life inthe town.
“Stop sending now,” Wainright briskly said. “Anyone who hasn’t acted on the
message by now doesn’t intend to. Harmon, take up the flyer and give me an
aerial view of this area. The rest of you place the distorters around the
hospital, then stand by. Cha Thrat, Naydrad, ready with the litter?”
Quickly, Cha Thrat positioned the vehicle close to the entrance of Khone’s
dwelling, ran out the rear ramp, and opened the canopy in readiness to receive
the patient. They could not risk touching Khone within sight of other Gogleskans
and were hoping that the little healer would come out and board the vehicle
itself. In case it did not, Naydrad would send in its remote-controlled probe to
find out why.
Because they would make conversation difficult— and so far nothing had happened
that could cause any Gogleskan to emit a distress call—the distorters remained
silent.
“Friend Khone,” Prilicla said, and the waves of sympathy, reassurance, and
friendship emanating from it were almost palpable. “We have come to help you.
Please come out.”
They waited for what seemed like a very long time, but there was neither sight
nor sound of Khone.
“Naydrad…” Wainright began.
“I’m doing it,” the Kelgian snapped.
The tiny vehicle, bristling with sound, vision, and biosensors as well as a
comprehensive array of handling devices, rolled across the uneven surface and
into Rhone’s front entrance, pushing aside the curtain of woven vegetable fibers
that hung there. The view all around it was projected onto the litter’s repeater
screen.
Cha Thrat thought that the probe itself, to someone who did not know its
purpose, was a frightening object. Then she reminded herself that Diagnostician
Conway, and through it Khone, knew all about such mechanisms.
The probe revealed nothing but a deserted house.
“Perhaps friend Khone required special medication from the hospital and went to
get it,” Prilicla said worriedly. “But I cannot feel its emotional radiation,
which means that it is either far from here or unconscious. If the latter, then
it may require urgent attention, so we cannot afford to waste time by searching
every room and passageway in the hospital with the probe. It will be quicker if
I search for it myself.”
Its. iridescent wings were beating slowly, already moving it forward when it
went on. “Move well back, please, so that your conscious feelings will not
obscure the fainter, unconscious radiation of the patient.”
“Wait!” the Lieutenant said urgently. “If you nna u, and it awakens suddenly to
see you hovering aboveit…”
“You are correct, friend Wainright,” Prilicla said. “Itmight be frightened into
sending out a distress call. Use your distorters.”
Cha Thrat quickly moved back with the medical team beyond the range of maximum
sensitivity for the Cinrusskin’s empathic faculty, and they adjusted their
headsets to deaden external sounds while enabling them to communicate with each
other. As a screaming, moaning, whistling cacophony erupted from the distorter
posi-, tions around the hospital, Cha Thrat wondered about the depth of
unconsciousness of their patient. The noise was enough to wake the dead.
It was more than enough to rouse Khone.
Chapter 13
“I feel it!” Prilicla called, excitement causing its hovering flight to become
wildly unstable. “Friend Naydrad, send in the probe. The patient is directly
beneath me, but I don’t want to risk frightening it by a sudden, close approach.
Quickly, it is very weak and in pain.”
Now that it had an accurate fix on Khone’s position, Naydrad quickly guided the