its patient—”
“Which one?” Murchison asked angrily. “Khone or the being presently under his
knife? And an emergency, in case you’ve forgotten, occurs spontaneously or
because a situation is out of control. It should not be caused deliberately
simply because someone feels hon-orbound to be somewhere else.
“In any case,” it went on, “he was in surgery and did not have time to say more
than a few words, which were that we should leave at once without him, and not
worryabout it.”
“Then it is you who is making excuses for your life-niate’s misbehavior…”
Naydrad began when Prilicla, speaking for the first time, interrupted it.
“Please,” it said gently, “I feel our friend Cha Thrat wanting to say
something.”
As a Senior Physician and leader of Rhabwar’s medical team it would have been
quite in order for Prilicla to tell them that their continued bickering was
causing itdiscomfort, and that they should shut their speaking ori- 11 fices
forthwith. But she also knew that the little empath 11 Would never dream of
doing any such thing, because the resultant feelings of embarrassment and guilt
over the pain they had caused their inoffensive, well-loved, and
emotion-sensitive team leader would have rendered it even more uncomfortable.
It was therefore in Prilicla’s own selfish interests to give orders indirectly
so as to minimize trie generation of unpleasant feelings around it. If it felt
her wanting to speak, it was probable that it could also feel that she, too, was
wanting to reduce the current unpleasantness.
They were all staring at her, and Priiicla had ceased trembling. Plainly the
emotion of curiosity was much less distressing than that which had gone before.
“I, too,” Cha Thrat said, “have studied the Goglesk tape, and in particular the
material on Khone__”
“Surely this is no concern of yours,” Danalta broke in. “You are a maintenance
person.”
“A most inquisitive maintenance person,” Naydrad said. “Let it speak.”
“A maintenance person,” she replied angrily, “should be inquisitive about the
being for whose accommodation she is responsible!” Then she saw Priiicla begin
to tremble again, and controlled her feelings as she went on. “It seems to me
that you may be concerning yourselves needlessly. Diagnostician Conway did not
speak to Pathologist Murchison as if it felt unduly concerned. What exactly did
the message from Goglesk say about the condition of the patient?”
“Nothing,” Murchison said. “We know nothing of the clinical picture. It isn’t
possible to send a lengthy message from a small, low-powered base like Goglesk.
A lot of energy is needed to punch a signal through hyperspace so that—”
“Thank you,” Cha Thrat said politely. “The technical problems were covered in
one of my maintenance lectures. What did the message say?”
Murchison’s face had deepened in color again as it said, “The exact wording was
‘Attention, Conway, Sector General. Most Urgent. Khone requires ambulance ship
soonest possible. Wainright, Goglesk Base.'”
For a moment Cha Thrat was silent, ordering her thoughts, then she said, “I am
assuming that Healer Khone and its other-species friend have been keeping
themselves informed regarding each other’s progress. Probably they have been
exchanging lengthier, more detailed and perhaps personal messages carried aboard
the Monitor Corps courier vessels operating in this sector, which would avoid
the obvious disadvantages of information transmitted through hyperspace.”
Naydrad’s fur was indicating that it was about to interrupt. She went on
quickly. “From my study of the Gogleskan material, I am also assuming that Khone
is, within the limits imposed by its conditioning, an unusually thoughtful and
considerate being who would be unwilling to inconvenience its friends
unnecessarily. Even if Conway had not mentioned the subject directly, Khone
would already have learned from its sharing of the Earth-human’s mind the full
extent of the duties, responsibilities, and workload carried by a Diagnostician.
And Conway, naturally, would be equally well informed about Khone’s mind and its
probable reaction to that knowledge.
“As the being who wished to be responsible for this patient,” she continued,
“the hyperspace signal was for Conway’s attention. But it urgently requested an
ambulance ship, not the presence of the Diagnostician.
“Conway knew why this was so,” Cha Thrat went on, “because it also knew as much