the vessel that transports them to this island the non-crew accommodation lacks
comfort, and the prisoners themselves are immobilized by leg restraints. With
respect, the similarities to our present situation are obvious.”
Fletcher was silent for a moment, then it said, “Let’s take your suspicion a
stage further. You think this might be a prison ship, in distress not because of
a technical malfunction but because its prisoners have broken free and may have
killed or injured all or part of the crew before they realized that they were
unable to work the ship themselves. Perhaps some crew members are holed up
somewhere, in need of medical attention, after inflicting serious casualties
among the escapees.”
Fletcher looked briefly at the cadaver, then returned its attention to Cha
Thrat.
“It’s a neat theory,” it went on. “If true, we are faced with the job of
convincing the ship’s crew and a bunch of unruly prisoners, who are on less than
friendly terms with each other, that we would like to help all of them without
becoming casualties ourselves. But is it true? The leg restraints support your
theory, but the harness and too! pouches suggest a crew member rather than a
prisoner.
“Thank you, Cha Thrat,” it added, turning to followChen, “I shall bear your
suspicions in mind, and be verycareful.”
As soon as the Captain had finished speaking, Prilicla said quickly, “Friend
Cha, we can see wounds all over the body surface, but the details are
indistinct. Describe them please. And do they support your theory? Are they the
type of injuries that might be sustained by an entity being moved violently
about inside a spinning ship, or could they have been inflicted deliberately by
another member of the same species?”
“On your answer,” Murchison joined in, “depends whether or not I go back for a
heavy-duty spacesuit.”
“And I,” Naydrad said. Danalta, who belonged to a species impervious to physical
injury, remained silent.
She looked closely at the brightly lit surfaces of the corridor for a moment,
then gently rotated the cadaver so that its entire body was presented to the
vision pickup. She was trying to think like a warrior-surgeon while at the same
time remembering one of the basic physics tapes she had viewed as a trainee
technician.
“There are a large number of superficial contusions and abrasions,” she said,
“concentrated on the flanks, knees, and elbows. They appear to have been made by
grazing contact with the metal of the corridor, but the wound that caused its
death is a large, depressed fracture located on and covering the top of the
skull. It does not look as if it was caused by any type of metal tool or
implement but by violent contact with the corridor wall. There is a patch of
congealed blood, comparable to the area of the injury, on the wall where I am
directing the vision pickup.
“Remembering that the cadaver’s position in the vessel is approximately
amidships,” she went on, wondering if the Captain’s lecturing manner was a
psychological contagion, “it is unlikely that the spinning could havebeen
responsible for such a grievous head injury. My conclusion is that the being,
whose legs are very strong, misjudged a jump in weightless conditions and hit
its head against the wall. The lesser wounds could have been caused while it was
tumbling, unconscious and dying, inside the spinning ship.”
Murchison’s voice sounded relieved as it said, “So you’re telling us that it had
an accident, that no other antisocial type bashed in its skull?”
“Yes,” ChaThrat said.
“I’ll be with you in a few minutes,” it said.
“Friend Murchison,” Prilicla began anxiously.
“Don’t worry, Doctor,” said the Pathologist. “If anyone or anything nasty
threatens, Danalta will protectus.”
“Of course,” the shape-changer said.
While she was waiting for them to arrive, Cha Thrat continued to study the
cadaver while listening to the voices of Prilicla, Fletcher, and Rhabwar’s
communications officer. The Cinrusskin’s empathic faculty had given it
approximate locations for the survivors who, apart from the single crew member
in Control, seemed to be gathered together in three small groups of four or five
persons on one deck. But the Captain had decided that it would be better to make