The Chief Psychologist moved close to the bedside and looked down at her. It
said, “Hospital regulations do not allow me to do as you ask, nor would I do so
if I could. Even though you are an unusually strong and stubborn personality,
you would find it very difficult to control the other occupant of your mind. It
isn’t an alien entity fighting for control, but because the type of leading
medical specialist who donates the tapes is frequently a very strong-minded and
aggressive person used to getting its own way, it would feel as if it is
takingcontrol. The ensuing purely subjective conflict could give rise to
episodes of pain, skin eruptions, and more troublesome organic malfunctionings.
All have a psychosomatic basis, of course, but they will hurt you just as much
as the real thing. The risk of permanent mental damage is great and, until a
trainee has learned to understand the external personalities of the beings
around it, it would not receive one of their Educator tapes.
“In your case there is an additional reason,” O’Mara added. “You are a female.”
Sommaradvan prejudices, she thought furiously, evenhere in Sector General! and
made a sound that at homewould have resulted in an immediate and probably vio-*
lent breakdown in communication. Fortunately, thesound did not translate.
“The conclusion you have just jumped to is wrong,” O’Mara went on. “It is simply
that the females of all the two-sexed species yet discovered have evolved with
certain peculiarities, as opposed to abnormalities, of mind. One of them is a
deeply rooted, sex-based fastidiousness and aversion toward anything or anyone
entering or trying to possess their minds. The only exception is in the
situation when life-mating has taken place, where, in many species, the
processes of physical and mental sharing and the feelings of possession
complement each other. But I can’t imagine you falling in love with an
other-species mind impression.”
“Do male entities,” Cha Thrat asked, both satisfied and intrigued by the
explanation, “receive mind recordings from other-species females, then? Could /
be given a female tape?”
“There is only one’recorded instance of that…” O’Mara began.
“Let’s not go into that,” Conway broke in, its face becoming a darker shade of
pink. “I’m sorry, Cha Thrat,you cannot be given an Educator tape, now or ever.
O’Mara has explained why, just as he has explained the political circumstances
of your arrival here and the delicate state of the cultural contact on
Sommaradva that would be jeopardized if we simply dismissed you from the
hospital. Wouldn’t it be better for all concerned if you left of your own free
will?”
Cha Thrat was silent for a moment, her eyes turned toward the limb that she had
thought would be lost forever, trying to find the right words. Then she said,
“You don’t owe me anything for my work on ship ruler Chiang. I have already
explained, during my first meeting with the Chief Psychologist, that the delay
in attending to its injuries was caused by my not wanting to lose a limb because
if, as a result of my decision to perform the operation it lost a limb, then so
would I. As a warrior-surgeon I cannot escape a responsibility willingly
accepted.
“And now,” she went on, “if I were to leave the hospital as you suggest, it
would not be of my own free will. I cannot do, or leave undone, something that I
know to be wrong.”
The Diagnostician was also looking at the replaced limb. “I believe you,” it
said.
O’Mara exhaled slowly and half turned to leave. It said, “I’m very sorry I
didn’t pick up on that ‘losing a limb’ remark you made at our first meeting; it
would have saved us all a lot of trouble. Against my better judgment I relented
after the AUGL-One Sixteen business, but the bloody drama during the FROB
demonstration was too much. The remainder of your stay here will not be very
pleasant because, in spite of the earlier recommendations you’ve had from
Diagnostician Conwayand myself, nobody wants you anywhere near their patients.
“Let’s face it, Cha Thrat,” it ended as both Earth-humans moved toward the door,
“you’re in the doghouse.”