facing the entrance. But the most noticeable feature of the room, after she had
blundered painfully against it, was the transparent wall that divided it in two.
At one end of the wall there was a large door, outlined in red for visibility,
and a smaller, central opening that contained remote handling and examination
equipment capable of reaching across to the bed.
“This room is being prepared for a very special patient,” Timmins said. “It is a
Gogleskan, physiological classification FOKT, who is a personal friend of
Diagnostician Conway. The patient, indeed its whole species, has serious
problems about which you can brief yourself when you have more time. It is a
gravid female nearing full term. There are psychological factors that require
that it receives constant reassurance, and Conway is clearing his present
workload during the next few weeks so that he will be free to travel to Goglesk,
pick up thepatient, and return with it to Sector General in plenty of time
before the event takes place.”
“I understand,” Cha Thrat said.
“What I want you to do,” Timmins went on, “is to set up a smaller and simpler
version of this accommodation on Rhabwar’s casualty deck. You will draw the
components from Stores and be given full assembly instructions. The work is
slightly above your present technical level, but there is ample time for someone
else to complete the job if you can’t do it. Do you want to try?”
“Oh, yes,” she said.
“Good,” the Earth-human said. “Look closely at this place. Pay special attention
to the attachment fittings of the transparent wall. Don’t worry too much about
the remote-controlled manipulators because the ship has its own. The patient
restraints will have to be tested, but only under the supervision of one of the
medical team who will be visiting you from time to time.
“Unlike this compartment,” it went on, “your casualty deck facility will be in
use only during the trip from Goglesk to the hospital, so the wall covering will
be a plastic film, painted to represent the wood paneling here and applied to
the ship’s inner plating and bulkheads. This saves on installation time and,
anyway, Captain Fletcher would not approve of us boring unnecessary holes in his
ship. When you think you understand what you will be doing, collect the material
from Stores and take it to the ship. I’ll see you there before you go off-duty.
..”
“Why the transparent wall and remote handling equipment?” Cha Thrat asked
quickly, as the Lieutenant turned to go. “An FOKT classification doesn’t sound
like a particularly large or dangerous life-form.”
“… To answer any questions not covered by your information tape,” it ended
firmly. “Enjoy yourself.” •The days that followed were not particularly
enjoyable except in retrospect. The tri-di drawings and assembly instructions
gave her a permanent headache during the first day and night but, from then on,
Timmins’s visits to check on progress became less and less frequent. There were
three visits from Charge Nurse Nay-drad, the Kelgian member of the medical team
who, Tarsedth informed her, was an expert in heavy rescue techniques.
Cha Thrat was polite without being subservient and Naydrad, in the manner of all
Kelgians, was consistently rude. But it did not find fault with her work, and it
an-, swered any questions that it did not consider either irrelevant or stupid.
“I do not fully understand the reason for the transparent division in this
compartment,” she said during one of its visits. “The Lieutenant tells me it is
for psychological reasons, so that the patient will feel protected. But surely
it would feel more protected by an opaque wall and a small window. Is the FOKT
in need of a wizard as well as an obstetrician?”
“A wizard?” said the Kelgian in surprise, then it went on. “Of course, you must
be the ex-medical trainee they’re all talking about who thinks O’Mara is a
witchdoctor. Personally, I think you’re right. But it isn’t just the patient,
Khone, who needs a wizard, it’s the whole planetary population of Goglesk. Khone
is a volunteer, a test case and a very brave or stupid FOKT.”
“I still don’t understand,” Cha Thrat said. “Could you explain, please?”