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Arretapec's mind, of the civilization which would develop on the brontosaur's
world and the monstrous yet strangely graceful beings that it would contain in
some far, far, future day. But he did not mention these thoughts aloud.
Instead he said, "Like most telepaths Arretapec was both squeamish and
inclined to discount purely physical methods of investigation. It was not
until I introduced him to Dr. Mannon's dog, and pointed out that a good way to
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get an animal to use a new ability was to teach it tricks with it, that we got
anywhere. I showed that trick where I throw cushions at the dog and after
wrestling with them for a while it arranges them in a heap and lets me throw
it on top of them, thus demonstrating that simple-minded creatures don't
mind-within limits, that is-a little roughhousing-"
"So that," said O'Mara, gazing reflectively at the ceiling, "is what you do in
your spare time..
Colonel Skempton coughed. He said, "You're playing down your own part in this.
Your foresight in stuffing that hulk with tractor and pressor beams...
"There's just one other thing before I see it off," Conway broke in hastily.
"Arretapec heard some of the men calling the patient Emily. It would like to
know why."
"It would," said O'Mara disgustedly. He pursed his lips then went on,
"Apparently one of the maintenance men with an appetite for early fiction-the
Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne to be exact- dubbed our patient
Emily
Brontosaurus. I must say that I feel a pathological interest in a mind which
thinks like that. . ." O'Mara looked as though there was a bad smell in the
room.
Conway groaned in sympathy. As he turned to go, he thought that his last and
hardest job might be in explaining what a pun was to the high-minded Dr.
Arretapec.
Next day Arretapec and the dinosaur left, the Monitor transport officer whose
job it was to keep the hospital supplied heaved a great sigh of relief, and
Conway found himself on ward duty again. But this time he was something more
than a medical mechanic. He had been placed in charge of a section of the
Nursery, and although he had to use data, drugs and case-histories supplied by
Thornnastor, the Diagnostician-in-Charge of Pathology, there was nobody
breathing directly down his neck. He could walk through his section and tell
himself that these were his wards. And O'Mara had even promised him an
assistant...!
It has been apparent since you first arrived here," the Major had told him,
"that you mix more readily with e-ts than with members of your own species.
Saddling you with Dr. Arretapec was a test, which you passed with honors, and
the assistant I'll be giving you in a few days might be another."
O'Mara had paused then, shook his head wonderingly and went on, "Not only do
you get on exceptionally well with e-ts, but I don't hear a single whisper on
the grapevine of you chasing the females of our species . .
"I don't have the time," said Conway seriously. "I doubt if I ever will."
"Oh, well, misogyny is an allowable neurosis," O'Mara had replied, then had
gone onto discuss the new assistant. Subsequently Conway had returned to his
wards and worked much harder than if there had been a Senior Physician
breathing down his neck. He was too busy to hear the rumors which began to go
around regarding the odd patient who had been admitted to Observation Ward
Three.
CHAPTER 4
VISITOR AT LARGE
Despite the vast resources of medical and surgical skill available, resources
which were acknowledged second to none anywhere in the civilized Galaxy, there
had to be times when a case arrived in Sector General for which nothing
whatever could be done. This particular patient was of classification SRTT,
which was a physiological type never before encountered in the hospital. It
was amoebic, possessed the ability to extrude any limbs, sensory organs or
protective tegument necessary to the environment in which it found itself, and
was so fantastically adaptable that it was difficult to imagine how one of
these beings could ever fall sick in the first place.
The lack of symptoms was the most baffling aspect of the case. There was in
evidence none of the visually alarming growths of malfunctionings to which so
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many of the extraterrestrial species were prone, nor were there any bacteria
present in what could be considered harmful quantities. Instead the patient
was simply melting-quietly, cleanly and without fuss or bother, like a piece
of ice left in a warm room, its body was literally turning to water. Nothing
that was tried had any effect in halting the process and, while they continued
their
attempts at finding a cure with even greater intensity, the Diagnosticians and
lesser doctors in attendance had begun to realize a little sadly that the run
of medical miracles produced with such monotonous regularity by Sector Twelve
General Hospital was due to be broken. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]