As a result, the shape-changer was their only guide on an even longer and more
complicated journey to the place where Chiang was to undergo its examination—
one of the casualty reception and observation wards, she was informed, reserved
for the treatment of warmblooded, oxygen-breathing patients. Danalta had
returned to its original body configuration of a large, dark-green, uneven ball
that guided itself, with surprising speed and accuracy, through the wheeled and
walking traffic in the corridors. Was the Sommaradvan form too difficult to
maintain, she wondered, or did it now feel that such psychological props were no
longer necessary?It was a surprisingly large compartment, rendered small by the
number and variety of examination tables and associated equipment covering the
floor and walls. There was an observation gallery for the use of visitors and
trainees, and Danalta suggested that she choose the least uncomfortable chair
while they were waiting. One of the silver-furred beings had already taken
Chiang away to be prepared for the examination.
“We shall be able to see and hear everything that is happening,” Danalta said,
“but they will not hear us unless you press the transmit button, just there, on
the side of your chair. You may have to use it if they ask questions.”
Another silver-furred being, or perhaps it was the same one, undulated into the
compartment, performed a seemingly purposeless act on an as-yet incomprehensible
piece of equipment, then looked up at them briefly as it was leaving.
“And now we wait,” Danalta went on. “But you must have questions, Cha Thrat.
There is enough time to answer a few of them.”
The shape-changer had retained the form of’a lumpy green hemisphere, featureless
except for one bulbous eye and a small fleshy protuberance that seemed to
combine the functions of hearing and speech. In time, she thought, one could
become used to anything—except the lack of discipline among these people, and
their unwillingness to define properly their areas of authority and
responsibility.
Choosing her words with care, she said, “As yet I am too ignorant and confused
by all this to ask the rightquestions. But could 1 begin by asking for a
detailed clarification of your own duties and responsibilities, and the class of
patient you treat?”
The answer left her feeling more confused than ever.
“I don’t treat patients,” Danalta replied, “and unless there was a major
surgical emergency, I would not be asked to do so. As for my duties, I am part
of the medical team on Rhabwar. That is the hospital’s special ambulance ship,
which carries an operational crew of Monitor Corps officers and a medical team
that assumes overall authority once the ship has reached the location of the
vessel in distress or, as the case may be, the site of the disaster.
“The medical team,” it went on, ignoring Cha Thrat’s confusion, “which is led by
the Cinrusskin empath, Prili-cla, also comprises Pathologist Murchison, an
Earth-human female; Charge Nurse Naydrad, a Kelgian experienced in space rescue
work; and myself. My job is to use the shape-changing ability to reach and
render first aid to casualties who might be trapped in areas inaccessible to
beings of limited physical adaptability, and do whatever I can to help the
injured until the rescue crew is able to extricate and move them to the
ambulance ship for rapid transfer to the hospital here. You will understand that
by extruding limbs and sensors of any required shape, useful work can be done in
the very restricted conditions found inside a badly damaged space vessel, and
there are times when I can make a valuable contribution. But in honesty I must
say that the real work is done by the hospital.
“And that,” it concluded, “is how I fit into this medical madhouse.”
With every word, Cha Thrat’s confusion had increased. Able and physically gifted
this entity might be,but was it, in truth, merely a servant? But if Danalta had
j sensed her confusion, it mistook the reason for it.
“I have other uses, too, of course,” it went on, and \ made a very Earth-human
barking sound with its un-Earthly mouth. “As a comparative newcomer to the
hospital, they send me to meet new arrivals like you on the assumption that—Pay