probe to the room occupied by the Gogleskan. Priiicla rejoined the others around
thelitter’s repeater screen where the sensor data was already being displayed.
The pictures showed the interior of one of the hospital’s tiny examination rooms
with the figure of Rhone lying against the low wall that separated the healer
and patient during treatment. A small table contained a variety of very
long-handled, highly polished wooden implements that appeared to be probes,
dilators, and spatulas for the nonsurgical investigation of body orifices, some
jars of local medication, and, incongruously, the lifeless x-ray scanner left by
Conway. A few of the instruments had fallen to the floor, and it seemed likely
that Rhone had been examining a patient on the other side of the wall when the
healer had collapsed. It was also probable that the patient concerned had
originated the last message received by Wainright.
“1 am Prilicla, friend Rhone,” the empath said via the probe’s communicator. “Do
not be afraid…”
Wainright made an untranslatable sound to remind Prilicla that, apart from the
initial words of identification, Gogleskans did not address each other as
persons and became mentally distressed if anyone tried to do so.
“This device will not cause pain or harm,” Prilicla continued more impersonally.
“Its purpose is to lift the patient, very gently, and convey it to a position
where expert attention is available. It is beginning to do so now.”
On the repeater screen Cha Thrat saw the probe extend two wide, flat plates and
slide them between the floor and Rhone’s recumbent body.
“Stop!”
The two voices, Rhone’s through the communicator and Prilicla’s in response to
the Gogleskan’s blast of emotional radiation, sounded as one. The empath’s
fragile body was shaking as if caught in a high wind.
‘Tm sorry, friend Rhone…” it began, then remembering, went on. “Sincere
apologies are tendered for the severe discomfort caused to the patient. Even
greater gentleness will be striven for in future. But is the patient-healer able
to furnish information on the exact position of, and possible reasons for, the
pain?”
“Yes and no,” Rhone said weakly. Its pain had diminished because Prilicla was no
longer trembling. It went on. “The pain is located in the area of the birth
canal. There is loss of function and diminished sensation in the lower limbs,
and the upper limbs and the medial area are similarly but less markedly
affected. The cardiac action is accelerated and respiration is difficult. It is
thought * that the birth process had begun and was interrupted, but the reason
is unknown because the scanner has not worked for some time and it is doubted if
the patient’s digits retain sufficient dexterity to change the powercell.”
“The probe mounts its own scanner,” Prilicla said reassuringly, “and its visual
and clinical findings will be transmitted to the healers out here. It will also
change the power cell in the other scanner so that the patient will be able to
aid the healers outside with its own Gog-leskan observations and experience.”
The empath began trembling again, but Cha Thrat had the feeling that the shaking
was due to its personal concern for Rhone rather than a return of the other’s
pain.
“The scanner is being deployed now,” Prilicla went on. “It will approach closely
but will not touch the patient.”
“Thanks are expressed,” Rhone said.
As she watched the increasingly detailed scan of Rhone’s pelvic area, Cha Thrat
grew more and more angry over her ignorance of Gogleskan physiology. And it made
little difference that the degree of ignorance ofPrilicla, Murchison, and
Naydrad was only slightly less than her own. The one person with the ability to
help Rhone now was many light-years away in Sector General, and there was a
strong probability that even the presence of the Diagnostician Conway would not
have resolved this problem.
“The healer-patient can see for itself,” Prilicla said gently, “that the fetus
is large and is improperly presented to the birth canal. It is also pressing
against the major nerve bundles and impeding the blood supply to the muscles in
the area, making it impossible for the fetus to be expelled in its present
position.
“Would the healer-patient agree,” the empath went on, “that the birth cannot
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