injuries caused it to act irrationally might have hidden itself. I feel sure
than I will find it soon.”
“I know,” Prilicla said. “But there is more.”
Cha Thrat hesitated, then said, “With respect, Cinrusskins are not a robust
species, and for that reason are more sensitive to the risk of physical injury
than beings like myself. I can assure you that I have no intention of placing
myself at risk, for whatever reason. But if I was to tell you my plan in detail,
the possibility exists that you would forbid me to carry it out.”
“Would you obey me if I did?” Prilicla asked.
She did not reply.
“Friend Cha,” Prilicla said gently, “you have many qualities that I find
admirable, including that of moderate cowardice, but you worry me. You have
shown yourselfreluctant to obey orders that you personally feel to be wrong or
unjustified. You have been disobedient in Sector General, on this ship, and, I
suspect, on your home world. This is not a quality that people find admirable in
a person of subordinate rank. What are we going to do with you?”
Cha Thrat was about to tell the little empath how sorry she felt at causing it
mental distress, then realized that it already knew exactly how she felt toward
it. Instead she said, “With respect, you could allow me to proceed, and ask the
Captain to concentrate the sensors on the reduced search area I have indicated,
and report any changes to me at once.”
“You know that I was thinking in the longer term,” Prilicla said. “But yes, I
shall do as you suggest. I share friend Murchison’s feelings about this
situation. There is something very strange here, and possibly dangerous, but we
cannot even guess where the threat, if there is a threat, will come from. Take
great care, friend Cha, and guard your mind as well as your body.”
Cha Thrat began the search as soon as Prilicla left her, starting with the level
above the dormitory deck, then moving to the one below it. But from the start
her principal intention had been to enter and search those occupied dormitories,
and, as soon as she did so, she knew that there would be a reaction from whoever
was watching the sensor displays.
When it came, the voice in her earpiece was that of the Captain itself.
“Technician!” it said sharply. “The sensors show a body of your mass and
temperature entering one of the dormitories. Get out of there at once!”
It was possible to argue politely and be circumspect with a gentle little entity
like Prilicla, Cha Thrat thought sadly, but not with the Captain. She had just
been givena direct order that she had no intention of obeying, so she spoke as
if she had not heard it.
“I have entered a dormitory and am moving sideways around the room with my back
to the wall,” she said calmly. “I am moving slowly so as not to disturb or
frighten the occupants, who seem to be half asleep. Two of them have turned
their heads to watch me but are making no threatening movements. There is a
small door, tight-fitting and mounted flush with the wall, probably a recessed
storage cabinet, that might be large enough for an FGHJ to force a way in to
hide. I am opening the door now. Inside there are…”
“Switch on your vision pickup,” Fletcher said angrily, “and save your breath.”
“… shelves containing what appears to be cleaning materials for the
waste-disposal facility,” she continued. “In case a fast retreat is necessary, I
have left the heavier equipment outside and am wearing only a headset. Now I’m
moving toward the wall facing the entrance where there is another small door.”
“So you can hear me,” Fletcher said coldly. “And you heard my order.”
“I’ve opened it,” she went on quickly, “and the missing survivor isn’t there.
Beside the door at floor level there is a small, flat, rectangular flap.
Possibly it conceals a recessed handle for an upward-opening door. I will have
to lie flat on the floor, and try to avoid the body wastes, to examine it.”
She heard the Captain make an untranslatable but very unsympathetic sound, then