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injury, mental confusion or ignorance of the relevant data, please make vision
contact.
Conway looked at Captain Fletcher, who drew down the corners of his mouth
and raised one eyebrow in a piece of non-verbal communication which said that
the person who understood the medical jargon was best fitted to answer the
questions.
Ambulance ship Rhabwar, Senior Physician Conway speaking, he responded
briskly. Staff and one patient, all warm-blooded oxygen-breathing. Crew
classifications are Earth-human DBDG, Cinrusskin GLNO and Kelgian DBLF. The
patient is a DBPK, origin unknown. It has sustained injuries which will require
urgent-
You are expected, Rhabwar, and I have you flagged as priority traffic,
the voice from Reception broke in. Please use approach pattern Red Two and
follow the red-yellow-red beacons to Lock Five-
But Lock Five is a-
-which is, as you know, Doctor, the principal entry port to the levels of
the water-breathing AUGLs, Reception continued. However, the accommodation
being reserved for your casualty is close to Five; and Three, which you would
normally use, is tied up with twenty-plus Hudlar casualties. There has been some
kind of structural accident with radiation side effects during assembly of a
Melfan orbiting factory, but I am aware only of the clinical details at present.
Thornnastor did not know what, if anything, you were bringing in,
Reception added, but it thought it better not to subject the casualty even to
residual radiation. Your ETA, Doctor?
Conway looked at Fletcher, who said, Two hours, sixteen minutes.
That would be ample time for their DBPK casualty to be transferred into a
pressure litter capable of maintaining the integrity of the patient s life-
support system against hard vacuum, water and a wide variety of lethal
atmospheres, and for the Rhabwar s medical team to don lightweight suits, which
would enable them to accompany it. The intervening time could also be used to
transmit and to consult with Diagnostician-in-Charge Thornnastor regarding their
preliminary findings on the DBPK survivor and the results of Murchison s
examination of the cadavers. Thornnastor would probably request the early
transfer of those cadavers so as to make a thorough investigation that would
give a complete picture of the DBPK lifeform s metabolism. Conway relayed the
Captain s estimate and asked who would be meeting the Rhabwar medics at Lock
Five.
The voice from Reception made a number of short, untranslatable noises,
possibly the e-t equivalent of a stammer, then went on, I m sorry, Doctor. My
instructions are that Rhabwar personnel are still technically in quarantine and
may not enter the hospital. But you may accompany the casualty, provided you do
not unseal. The assistance of your team will not be required, Doctor, but the
proceedings will be broadcast on the teaching channels so that you will be able
to observe and, if necessary, advise.
Thank you, said Conway. The sarcasm was lost, naturally, in the
translation.
You re welcome, Doctor, said Reception. And now can I have your
communications officer. Diagnostician Thornnastor has requested a direct link
with Pathologist Murchison and yourself for purposes of consultation and
preliminary diagnosis..
A little more than two hours later, Thornnastor knew all that it was
possible to know about the casualty at a distance, and the patient in its
pressure litter was being transferred very gently from the Rhabwar s boarding
tube into the cavernous entry port that was Lock Five. Prilicla was also allowed
to accompany the patient to monitor its emotional radiation. Reluctantly, the
hospital authorities had agreed that the little Cinrusskin was unlikely to carry
with it the virus that had affected the Rhabwar s crew, and besides, it was the
only medically qualified empath currently on the hospital s staff.
The reception and transfer team-Earth-humans in lightweight suits with the
helmets, belts and boots painted bright fluorescent blue-quickly moved the
pressure litter to Lock Five s inner seal. The outer seal closed ponderously and
water poured in, bubbling and steaming coldly as it entered the recently airless
chamber. By the time the turbulence had cleared and Conway was able to see, the
team was already manhandling the litter into the tepid green depths of the ward
devoted to the treatment of the water-breathing inhabitants of Chalderescol.
Conway was glad that their casualty was unconscious, because the Chalders,
whose wide variety of ailments rarely left them immobile, swam ponderously
around the litter, displaying the curiosity of all hospital patients towards
anything that promised to break the monotony of ward routine.
The ward resembled a vast undersea cavern, tastefully decorated, to
Chalder eyes, with a variety of artificial native plant life, some of which was
obviously carnivorous. This was not the normal environment of the natives of
Chalderescol, who were highly advanced both culturally and technically, but the
type of surroundings sought by healthy young Chalders going on vacation.
According to Chief Psychologist O Mara, who was rarely wrong in these matters,
the primitive environment was a significant aid to recovery. But even to an
Earth-human DBDG like Conway, who knew exactly what was going on, it was a
spooky place.
A completely new life-form whose language had yet to be programed into the
hospital s translation computer would not know what to think-especially if it
was confronted suddenly with one of the AUGL patients.
An adult native of Chalderescol resembled a forty-foot-long crocodile,
armor-plated from the rather overlarge mouth to the tail, and with a belt of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
injury, mental confusion or ignorance of the relevant data, please make vision
contact.
Conway looked at Captain Fletcher, who drew down the corners of his mouth
and raised one eyebrow in a piece of non-verbal communication which said that
the person who understood the medical jargon was best fitted to answer the
questions.
Ambulance ship Rhabwar, Senior Physician Conway speaking, he responded
briskly. Staff and one patient, all warm-blooded oxygen-breathing. Crew
classifications are Earth-human DBDG, Cinrusskin GLNO and Kelgian DBLF. The
patient is a DBPK, origin unknown. It has sustained injuries which will require
urgent-
You are expected, Rhabwar, and I have you flagged as priority traffic,
the voice from Reception broke in. Please use approach pattern Red Two and
follow the red-yellow-red beacons to Lock Five-
But Lock Five is a-
-which is, as you know, Doctor, the principal entry port to the levels of
the water-breathing AUGLs, Reception continued. However, the accommodation
being reserved for your casualty is close to Five; and Three, which you would
normally use, is tied up with twenty-plus Hudlar casualties. There has been some
kind of structural accident with radiation side effects during assembly of a
Melfan orbiting factory, but I am aware only of the clinical details at present.
Thornnastor did not know what, if anything, you were bringing in,
Reception added, but it thought it better not to subject the casualty even to
residual radiation. Your ETA, Doctor?
Conway looked at Fletcher, who said, Two hours, sixteen minutes.
That would be ample time for their DBPK casualty to be transferred into a
pressure litter capable of maintaining the integrity of the patient s life-
support system against hard vacuum, water and a wide variety of lethal
atmospheres, and for the Rhabwar s medical team to don lightweight suits, which
would enable them to accompany it. The intervening time could also be used to
transmit and to consult with Diagnostician-in-Charge Thornnastor regarding their
preliminary findings on the DBPK survivor and the results of Murchison s
examination of the cadavers. Thornnastor would probably request the early
transfer of those cadavers so as to make a thorough investigation that would
give a complete picture of the DBPK lifeform s metabolism. Conway relayed the
Captain s estimate and asked who would be meeting the Rhabwar medics at Lock
Five.
The voice from Reception made a number of short, untranslatable noises,
possibly the e-t equivalent of a stammer, then went on, I m sorry, Doctor. My
instructions are that Rhabwar personnel are still technically in quarantine and
may not enter the hospital. But you may accompany the casualty, provided you do
not unseal. The assistance of your team will not be required, Doctor, but the
proceedings will be broadcast on the teaching channels so that you will be able
to observe and, if necessary, advise.
Thank you, said Conway. The sarcasm was lost, naturally, in the
translation.
You re welcome, Doctor, said Reception. And now can I have your
communications officer. Diagnostician Thornnastor has requested a direct link
with Pathologist Murchison and yourself for purposes of consultation and
preliminary diagnosis..
A little more than two hours later, Thornnastor knew all that it was
possible to know about the casualty at a distance, and the patient in its
pressure litter was being transferred very gently from the Rhabwar s boarding
tube into the cavernous entry port that was Lock Five. Prilicla was also allowed
to accompany the patient to monitor its emotional radiation. Reluctantly, the
hospital authorities had agreed that the little Cinrusskin was unlikely to carry
with it the virus that had affected the Rhabwar s crew, and besides, it was the
only medically qualified empath currently on the hospital s staff.
The reception and transfer team-Earth-humans in lightweight suits with the
helmets, belts and boots painted bright fluorescent blue-quickly moved the
pressure litter to Lock Five s inner seal. The outer seal closed ponderously and
water poured in, bubbling and steaming coldly as it entered the recently airless
chamber. By the time the turbulence had cleared and Conway was able to see, the
team was already manhandling the litter into the tepid green depths of the ward
devoted to the treatment of the water-breathing inhabitants of Chalderescol.
Conway was glad that their casualty was unconscious, because the Chalders,
whose wide variety of ailments rarely left them immobile, swam ponderously
around the litter, displaying the curiosity of all hospital patients towards
anything that promised to break the monotony of ward routine.
The ward resembled a vast undersea cavern, tastefully decorated, to
Chalder eyes, with a variety of artificial native plant life, some of which was
obviously carnivorous. This was not the normal environment of the natives of
Chalderescol, who were highly advanced both culturally and technically, but the
type of surroundings sought by healthy young Chalders going on vacation.
According to Chief Psychologist O Mara, who was rarely wrong in these matters,
the primitive environment was a significant aid to recovery. But even to an
Earth-human DBDG like Conway, who knew exactly what was going on, it was a
spooky place.
A completely new life-form whose language had yet to be programed into the
hospital s translation computer would not know what to think-especially if it
was confronted suddenly with one of the AUGL patients.
An adult native of Chalderescol resembled a forty-foot-long crocodile,
armor-plated from the rather overlarge mouth to the tail, and with a belt of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]