the vertical plane. She managed to keep her head and the hands gripping Khone’s
fur steady, but she was feeling a growing nausea that reminded her of childhood
bouts of travel sickness.
“Friend Cha Thrat, are you all right?” Prilicla asked. “Do you wish to stop?”
“Can we spare the time?”
“No,” the empath replied, then: “The fetus is moving! It is—”
“Reverse, two Gs steady,” Cha Thrat said quickly, effectively standing Khone on
its head again.
“—now pressing against the upper womb,” Prilicla continued. “The umbilical is no
longer being compressed, and pressure on the blood vessels and nerve linkages in
the area has been relieved. The muscles are beginning rapid, involuntary
contractions…”
“Enough to expel the fetus?” she broke in.
“No,” it replied. “They are too weak to complete thebirth process. In any case
the fetus is sun noi in me optimum position.”
Cha Thrat used a swear word that was definitely not Sommaradvan, and said, “Can
we reposition and refocus the gravity grids so as to pull the fetus into the
proper position for—”
“I would need time to—” Naydrad began.
“There isn’t any time,” said Prilicla. “I’m surprised friend Khone is still with
us.”
This was not going nearly as well as the remembered case in the Tralthan
maternity ward had gone, and there was no consolation in telling herself that,
in this instance, the life-form was strange and the operating facilities
virtually non-existent. Khone’s mind was no longer sending or receiving
impressions, so that she could not even make the Last Apology to it for her
failure.
“Please do not distress yourself, friend Cha,” the Cinrusskin went on, beginning
to tremble violently. “No blame can be attached to you for attempting a task
that, because of the peculiar circumstances, none of us were able to do. Your
present emotional radiation is worrying me. Remember, you aren’t even a member
of the medical team, you have no authority, and the responsibility for allowing
you to try this procedure is not yours… You have just thought of something?”
“We both know,” Cha Thrat said, so quietly that her voice reached only Prilicla,
“that I have made it my responsibility. And yes, I’ve thought of something.”
In a louder voice she went on quickly. “Naydrad, we need a rapid one-G push-pull
this time, just enough to keep the fetus moving. Danalta, the muscle wall around
the womb is thin, and relaxed due to the patient’s unconsciousness. Will you
produce some suitable limbs and hands? Prilicla will tell you the size and shape
needed, and use the scanner to direct your movements of thefetus into the proper
position. Murchison, will you stand by to help withdraw it, if or when it is
born?”
Apologetically she added, “I cannot assist you. For the time being it would be
better if I retained the closest possible physical contact with the patient. My
feeling is that, unconscious or not, it will derive a greater measure of
emotional comfort from my doing so.”
“Your feeling is correct,” Prilicla said. “But time is short, friends. Let’s do
it.”
While Naydrad kept the fetus twitching slowly within the womb, and Danalta,
using appendages whose shape and movements would give Cha Thrat bad dreams for
many nights to come, tried to press and turn it into optimum position, she tried
desperately to get through to her deeply unconscious mind-partner.
You will be all right. Your child will be all right. Hang on, please don’t die
on me!
It was like thinking into a black and bottomless pit. For an instant she thought
there was a flicker of awareness, but it was probably that the feeling had come
because she wanted it to be so. She turned her head slightly, so as not to break
contact with the long, silvery tendrils, and wished that she was in a position
to see the scanner display.
“It’s in optimum position now,” Prilicla said suddenly. “Danalta, move your
hands lower. Be ready to press when I tell you if the fetus starts turning
again. Naydrad, two Gs steady, down!”
For a moment there was silence except for the whistling of the distorters, which
now seemed to be wavering in intensity as they labored like the patient, on