wrapped in a thin plastic film with a large ring for tearing it open. The liquid
and solid foods were synthetic, according to Murchison, but nutrition-ally
tailored to the requirements of the FGHJs’ metabolism, and the small quantities
of nonnutrient material present were probably there to excite the taste buds.
But when Cha Thrat tossed one of the packages into the crew member’s hands, it
began tearing at it with its teeth without removing the plastic wrapping. The
simple, spring-loaded caps sealing the bottles were also ignored. It tore open
the neck of the container with its teeth and sucked out the liquid that it had
not already spilled down its chest.
A few minutes later the Pathologist made an untranslatable sound and said, “Its
table manners certainly leave a lot to be desired, but it doesn’t appear to be
hungry anymore. Let’s get started.”
Feeding the crew member made no perceptible difference to its behavior except,
perhaps, to give it more strength to resist them. By the time Murchison had
withdrawn its samples, Naydrad, Cha Thrat, and the Pathologist itself were
displaying several areas of surface bruising and Danalta, whose body could not
be injured or deformed except by the application of ultrahigh temperatures, had
been forced into some incredible shape-changes in order to help them immobilize
the brute. When the task was done, Murchison sent Naydrad and Danalta ahead with
its test samples while it remained, breathing rapidly, and with its eyes fixed
on the crew member.
“I don’t like this,” it said.
“It worries me, too,” Cha Thrat said. “However, if a problem is restated often
enough, in different words, a solution sometimes emerges.”
“I suppose some wise old Sommaradvan philosopher said that,” Murchison said
drily. “I’m sorry, Technician. What were you going to say?”
“An Earth-human Lieutenant called Timmins said it,”
she replied. “And I was about to restate the problem, which is that we are faced
with a ship’s crew who are apparently suffering from a disease that leaves them
completely healthy, but mindless. Not only can they not operate their own
undamaged and fully functioning ship, they do not remember how to unfasten their
leg restraints, unlatch doors, or open food containers. They have become like
healthy animals.”
Murchison said quietly, “The problem is being restated, but in the same words.”
“The living quarters are bare and comfortless,” Cha Thrat went on, “which made
us think at first that this was a prison ship. But is it possible that the crew
members, for reasons that may be psychological and associated with space-travel,
or a disease that affects them during space travel, know that bodily comforts,
pleasant surroundings, and valued personal possessions would be wasted on them
during a voyage because they expect to become animals. Perhaps the condition is
brief, episodic, and temporary, but on this occasion something went wrong and it
became permanent.”
“Now,” Murchison said, twitching her shoulders in the movement that Earth-humans
called a shiver, “the words are different. But if it is of any help to you,
among the samples Naydrad brought me for analysis there was medication as well
as food. The medication was of one kind only, the tranquilizer capsules of the
type found on the cadaver, in a form intended for oral self-administration. So
you may be right about them expecting the condition and taking steps to reduce
accidental damage to themselves during the mindless phase. But it’s strange that
Naydrad, who looks very carefully for such things, found only this one type of
medication, and no sign of any instruments for the purposes of examination,
diagnosis, or surgery. Even if they knew in advance that theywere going to take
sick, it looks as if the ship’s crew did not include a medic.”
“If anything,” Cha Thrat said, “this new information increases the problem.”
Murchison laughed, but the pallor of its normally pink face showed that it found
nothing humorous in the situation. It said grimly, “I could not find anything
wrong with the being I examined, apart from the accidental head injury that
killed it, nor can I see anything clinically wrong with the other crew members.
But something has trace-lessly destroyed their higher centers of intelligence