The Galactic Circle Veterinary Service

by Stephen Benjamin

  Hello Cy,

  Thanks for sending me updates on your travel. I only wish that I could experience some of the things you describe. Although I have traveled from Sammara to Setaa III for vet school, the two worlds are similar enough that it was hardly different from being at home. Your words bring other worlds to life for me. You are seeing and learning much more than I can in my position here on Sammara. Not that I’m complaining, you understand. I’m thankful I have the opportunity I do. Though I can’t help but be a bit jealous. I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed meeting and spending time with you. I look forward to doing so again. Please do keep the messages coming. They help to brighten up some of my dreary, bureaucracy-filled days. Until we meet again, I will treasure our brief time together. Keep well.

  Roxanne

  She packed her message with everything I could have hoped for. Her dimpled smile warmed my face and my heart. I watched it over and over, until I committed every word and image to memory. Then I saved it to watch again.

  In my messages to my folks, I described where I had been and what I had seen and done. I detailed the cases I had seen—as routine as most were—then stressed the coups I had experienced with the robotic surgery unit. I let them know I was fine. I fervently hoped they were, but left that out. Their missives were factual and avoided anything that might smack of politics. Always right behind me as I sent and received these messages lurked the sinister presence of Reb Levi.

  CHAPTER 7

  “Dying. Need help.”

  The face onscreen had sunken cheeks, green-tinged scaly skin, and large bulbous eyes placed on the sides of the head. It looked like it could see in all directions, like a chameleon. Small vertical slits behind the eyes probably passed for ears. Another slit—the nose?—sat above a wide mouth lined with sharp teeth. The voice was out of synch with the mouth movements because of a delay in Ruthie’s translation from Pronacian to Common.

  “Death everywhere.”

  The transmission cut off abruptly.

  The planet Pronac was not on Reb Levi’s itinerary, and he objected to a detour. “This is not our business, Berger. Computer, you must stay on our determined course.”

  My small victory on Wolath keeping Levi from censoring Roxanne’s messages left me loath to buck him again, but Fur’s intervention rendered my reluctance irrelevant.

  “Reb Levi, standard interstellar protocol demands that whoever receives a distress call must respond. We have no choice.”

  Levi grumbled at Fur’s words but set course for Pronac. The planet was smaller than Dovid’s World, tropical, with oceans that covered seventy-five percent of the surface. Yellows and reds dominated the continents that dotted the aquamarine seas. Banks of clouds drifted above the landmasses. It was a multicolored jewel that sparkled on the black velvet of space. Based on the transmission, however, I worried that the beauty would turn ugly up close.

  In orbit, we made contact again.

  “This is the Galactic Circle Veterinary Service. I’m Dr. Cy Berger. We got your—”

  “Help. Hurry.” Another green face. I could not begin to guess if it was the same one.

  “Exactly what seems to be the problem?”

  “No time. Aaiiee—”

  With the scream, the communication cut off. I wondered what in hell we were getting into.

  Fur cleared his throat. “What was that?”

  “No idea. Let’s try to contact them again.”

  We could not raise anything on any channels.

  “This is weird,” I said. “What do you think?”

  Levi said, “They are not human, not our Lord’s creatures. We should not get involved.”

  My face grew hot and my pulse pounded as I listened to Levi’s bigotry. “Kish mein tuches,” I muttered and slammed my shields into place, anticipating his response.

  He might not have heard the words, but my tone was enough.

  “What?” Levi barked. His face grew darker and his scar gleamed.

  I imagined his brain as a bubble of magma ready to blow through his bald volcanic dome. His twitching eye made the eruption seem even more imminent. I had to watch myself. I did not want to push him that far.

  Fur spoke to forestall any further outburst. “Reb Levi, we can’t leave without seeing if we can help. We need to land at the port and check things out. Please understand. These beings may be different from us, but they are sentient and part of God’s universe. How can we do less for them than we do for nonsentient animals? I’m sure our Lord would want us to show compassion. Remember the ancient hymn:

  ‘All things bright and beautiful,

  All things great and small,

  All things wise and wonderful,

  The Lord God made them all.’”

  Levi opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again, but before he could speak, Fur rushed on.

  “You know that most of the life humans have encountered in our galaxy bears amazing resemblance to Terran life. DNA, RNA, and proteins are the basic blueprint, machinery, and building blocks for cells everywhere. True, there are differences in anatomy, physiology and biochemistry, but life throughout our galaxy, at least, must be related.”

  “You say that we are related? Us to those...those things?” Levi sputtered. “The Lord created humans in his image, not some giant lizards.”

  Fur responded, “If the Lord created life, it makes sense that he did so everywhere, and used the same template on all these worlds, doesn’t it?”

  I bit down hard on my tongue. Fur couldn’t believe in creationism, could he? At any rate, he placated the rebbe.

  Levi was confused, and his anger had not dissipated, but at least it was no longer aimed at me. My stomach appreciated that. “That may well be true, Cohen, but these aliens are like nothing from earth. And even on earth there were beasts that we consider unclean—”

  I couldn’t stand it anymore. “For God’s sake, Levi, they don’t have to be kosher, we aren’t going to eat them.” I knew that was a mistake as soon as I said it.

  Levi turned his anger toward me again. A vision flashed into my mind: a belt buckle swung at my head. I flinched and almost ducked, but the vision faded as fast as it had come. I wondered what that meant as I clamped down on my churning stomach.

  Levi’s eye twitch exceeded what I thought would be the maximum possible frequency. “You seem to think that everything can be made into some sort of joke. Unnatural beings are not funny.” He drew a deep breath. “And you will address me as Reb Levi, is that clear?” He held me with his black-eyed glare before he turned and stomped off the bridge.

  Screw that schmuck.

  I turned to Fur. “Well done. You’re a never-ending source of surprises.”

  ***

  Ruthie put down the GCVS in an eerily quiet spaceport. The buildings were featureless multi-bubble gray domes. A jungle of riotous color encroached on the field and buildings. The stark contrast suggested a constant battle to keep the vegetation restrained.

  We saw no movement other than what looked like small winged reptiles that swooped past the ship. A few immobile lumps spotted the field between parked spacecraft. I zoomed in on one with the viewscreen. It appeared to be a reptilian sprawled motionless on the ground. Several more lumps confirmed this diagnosis.

  I turned to Fur and raised my eyebrows. He shook his head and tugged his beard.

  Levi stomped back onto the bridge. “I don’t like this. What is wrong with these creatures? Where is spaceport security?”

  “Damned if I know. Ruthie, see if you can pick up any more transmissions.”

  “There is nothing on any channels, Cy,” she crooned.

  Levi said, “We must take off. Computer, do as I say.”

  “As you order, Reb Levi.” For whatever reason, she did not screw around with him.

  “Hold it, Ruthie.” I looked at Levi. “We received a distress call. I thought we settled this.” I tried to keep my voice level.

  Fur’s deep voice cut in, “I agree. The Pronacian
s need help. We have an obligation to assist if we can.”

  When Levi did not answer, I said, “Let’s use the land drone. The atmosphere is breathable, but barely, so we stay in the drone and use isolation suits outside. If this is some sort of disease—and God only knows if we would be susceptible—we need to be protected.”

  Levi’s black eyes widened until they resembled open manholes. “Disease? You think there is a plague?” He shuddered. “But what can you do about it anyway? You are a veterinarian.” He said this with a sneer. “As you point out, these are sentient creatures despite their ungodly appearance.”

  I admit that the same thought had crossed my mind, but I was damned if I would let Levi dissuade me. I answered in an even tone. “I am trained to deal with all manner of nonhumans, including reptiles. Why should sentience make a difference?”

  Levi frowned at the viewscreen. He turned and said, “I forbid this. We should wait until we can contact someone. This is too dangerous and not part of our mission.”

  “Mission or not, we’ve got to help,” I said. While I feared Levi’s power to harm my loved ones, I could not abandon a world in trouble because of his xenophobia.

  “We have no choice,” Fur added.

  Outvoted, Levi whined. “Then I will stay here. We must keep someone in the ship. What if something happens to you two? I need to be able to call for assistance.”

  What he meant was “leave,” with us behind, but I needed a break from the putz.

  “Good idea,” I said. “We need to have someone here in case any of the locals show up seeking help. You should be able to take care of that, right?”

  He paled.

  I snorted in disgust and turned to Fur. “Let’s go.”

  ***

  Fur steered our mobile land drone clinic toward the bubble domes a half kilometer away. The sun was brighter than NewSol, and ships and buildings cast stark shadows on the landing field surface. We had traversed half the distance when a figure, naked except for some sort of belt, appeared from the shadow of a parked craft. It staggered into our path, dropped to one knee, and stayed there as we approached.

  Pronac’s intelligent species were six-limbed reptilians and this one buried its head in the upper pair of arms, and rested on one knee and the other two hands. We pulled up short of the figure, and I switched on the outside speakers.

  “Hello. We’re from the Galactic Circle Veterinary Service. We came in response to your call for assistance.” What came out the other end was a series of clicks and hisses, Ruthie’s translation into Pronacian. “How can we help?”

  The Pronacian stared at the drone then rose on wobbly legs. Without further warning, it roared, leaped at the vehicle, and landed athwart the windshield. Its body blocked more than half of the view, but who admired views when he had a Pronacian mouth to look down? The mouth was twice the size of a human’s and sported an impressive set of dentures, including canines the length of my pinky. Four taloned fists pounded at the window.

  “What the hell—?”

  I got no more out before Fur put the vehicle in reverse then slammed it into forward, then swerved from side to side as we moved toward the domes at high speed. The third swerve dislodged our unwelcome guest. I looked to the rear in the viewscreen; the figure was just another green lump on the ground.

  Fur slowed the drone and brought it to a halt.

  I looked at him. “Did that thing think we were trying to hurt it? That was one of the intelligent race, right?”

  “Looked like the one that hailed us on the comm. It might be sentient, but it sure wasn’t rational. It’s not moving. I’d hate to have hurt him—or her. We should take a look.”

  I stared at the screen, not thrilled with the idea, but how could we injure the first native we met and not try to assist?

  When I did not answer, Fur snorted. “Okay, I’ll go.”

  I hoped he did not hear my sigh of relief. I nodded to him. I am not a coward, mostly, but his one hundred-thirty kilos of muscle could handle a berserker better than I could.

  “Suit up. We still don’t know what’s happening. Take a weapon.”

  Fur grimaced at me for stating the obvious.

  “I was just trying to help.”

  Fur exited and approached the immobile figure. He spoke a few words then prodded the body with his toe. Still no movement. He reached down and turned the figure face up. I could see that the eyes were wide open. Fur turned to the drone and spoke. “Dead. He might have struck his head, but there’s not enough injury to see how that would have killed him. I’m coming back in. Nothing we can do here.”

  “Go through full decontamination in the lock. Until we know more...” I left the rest of my morbid thoughts unvoiced.

  As we drove across the field, I said, “Ruthie, don’t relay our comments to Levi. We’ll keep them local.”

  “If you say so, Cy,” she cooed. Sometimes I wondered about the wisdom of my programming.

  I asked Fur, “You don’t believe all that crap about creation that you spouted to Levi, do you?”

  He glanced at me. “To have biologically similar life throughout the galaxy, it had to have been seeded there at some time. By something...or someone.”

  “Yeah. I know the theories: a massive storm of intergalactic objects carrying the seeds of life collided with our galaxy, a race of powerful ancients—of whom there’s not a trace—deliberately seeded life here, and a dozen other theories. But a God that made everything in six days? There’s incontrovertible evidence of evolution on earth and every other world that has life. Maybe God created the universe, but I can’t believe the literal translation of the Torah that the Test-Lits subscribe to. God didn’t just wave a wand and poof, out popped every form of life we know.”

  Fur was silent for a few moments then said, “I don’t believe in literal creationism, on earth or anywhere else. But in order to explain the basic similarities between worlds, some similar primitive life form, protozoan, bacterial, or whatever, had to get to each of those worlds to begin the process. Life spread somehow. Maybe it was a deity worshipped by humans, or maybe there was some sort of cosmic intelligence out there, a mind so vast we can’t possibly conceive of it. I’ll keep my mind open and consider any theory to explain the reality, no matter how unlikely it might seem.”

  We drove on in silence as I pondered his statement. I was not sure where I stood with respect to belief in God. I grew up with the God of Israel as a given, but my later scientific training had seeded doubts. My challenges to the literal translation of the Torah were what got me labeled as a heretic. Maybe some alien cosmic intelligence was out there. Could it be the supernatural, omniscient being that defined our God? I shook my head. I wasn’t going there. I’d leave those conundrums to the philosophers. Veterinary medicine was deep enough for me.

  We rounded the bubble domes of the main terminal complex into a street lined with smaller domes and tall trees with fern-like branches. The foliage varied from shades of red-brown to yellow. To me, they looked dead or dying, but that might have been their natural color. The rest of the surfaces were the uniform gray of everything else we had seen. More figures lay scattered in view, some in the middle of the road and others about the buildings.

  Fur stopped the drone. We hailed but received no response. After a few minutes, we moved on.

  Fur turned to me. “Two possibilities, I suppose, when you see dead or dying victims in the streets. One is war, but there doesn’t seem to be any other destruction you might expect. The other is some sort of plague. I guess the latter.”

  “I agree but it would be one hell of a plague to wipe out everyone. And what about the one reptilian who attacked the drone? What disease would make it do that?”

  Fur smirked. “Epidemic rabies?”

  “Sure, like they’re running around and biting each other. And where are the rest of the live Pronacians?”

  “I think I’d be locked inside.”

  I called Levi. “Have you received any further conta
ct from the Pronacians?”

  “No. And what was wrong with that native?”

  Not in the mood to explain, I said, “I’ll tell you about it later,” and shut off the comm. “Let’s go farther into town,” I said to Fur.

  The next hour we drove through deserted streets—deserted except for a plethora of bodies, many bloated by advanced decomposition. The town of gray bubble domes and pavement, ugly fern trees, and litter of putrefying corpses was grim.

  “This is enough to depress Mary Poppins,” I said.

  Fur’s brow furrowed as he looked at me.

  “She was a character in an old...Oh, forget it.”

  As we turned a corner, we saw two more living reptilians. One stood in the middle of a street and held what looked like a club. It leaned over another figure that writhed on the ground. It lifted the implement and swung it down hard. The prone figure stopped moving.

  The weapon wielder turned to us and lurched into a stagger toward the drone.

  “Uh, oh. That club could crack the windshield.”

  Fur jammed the gears into reverse, swung around, and hightailed it out of there. He did not slow until we were more than a kilometer away.

  I looked at him. “I thought this was a plague, but that did not look like death by disease.” I was beginning to wonder if we could help these beings.

  Fur pulled at his beard before he spoke. “I can’t believe all those people were bludgeoned to death. This whole thing is bizarre.”

  “Thanks. I hadn’t noticed.”

  He booted me in the ankle. “Smartass. Let’s head for the city center. Maybe we can find someone who will talk to us rather than try to slaughter us.”

  I had Ruthie put us through to Levi again. “Have you heard anything?”

  “No. What is going on? I demand to know or return to ship immediately.”

  “We don’t know what’s going on, and we’ll let you know as soon as we do. Over.”

  A moment later, a movement caught my eye. “What’s that? By the door to that building.”