Stardoc

by S. L. Viehl

  The male Hsktskt glowered at me as this was relayed. I turned my attention to the female, and tried to look sympathetic. It was rather difficult to do that when my patient was looking at me as though deciding which end to start gnawing on first.

  “New fathers always seem to panic at the worst possible moment,” I said prudently. I had no wish to meet my demise. As it was, things couldn’t get much worse. “Does she know how close she is to delivering?”

  The patient rattled off an impatient succession of hisses.

  “Only minutes remain. Anticipate at least four newborn young, and isolate each upon emergence.” The small humanoid coughed, then turned slightly green. “If the young are not immediately separated from all other life-forms, the result will be . . . carnage.”

  Things just went from awful to horrible.

  “T’Nliq, I’ll need a half-dozen quarantine cribs, reinforced with plasteel panels and inhibitor webbing.” I checked the birth aperture gingerly; the first of the young was almost crowned. My patient began to make a high, keening sound. “In about a minute.” I deactivated the containment field.

  The pulse rifle was back in my face.

  “This male wants to know why the female is crying out,” the translator said.

  “It hurts,” I replied. I wasn’t going to admit I had no idea if pain was a natural occurrence during Hsktskt childbirth.

  The Hsktskt male responded furiously.

  “This male believes you are causing the female’s distress.” The humanoid’s voice was strained. “He thinks—”

  “It’s okay.” I saw what the big, mean bastard thought as he fingered the firing mechanism of his rifle. Leaning close to the Hsktskt male, I smiled nastily. “Tell him if he kills me, he’ll have to deliver the young by himself.”

  He was told. The weapon was retracted. Slowly.

  T’Nliqinara had in the meantime quietly ordered the equipment I needed. It arrived with two orderlies who wisely stayed outside the threshold. I nodded my appreciation toward the nurse, then turned back to my patient. She was screeching in real agony now. The gap in her scales widened, then peeled back as the crown of the newborn bulged out.

  “Here we go.” I slid my fingertips just inside the aperture, cradling the small skull. “T’Nliq, run a continuous scan on her vitals.” The rest was up to the female, and her instincts. “Tell her to bear down—now!”

  The first of her young made an abrupt and rather messy entrance into the world. Like most scaled life-forms, it was a miniature version of its parent. It also had a mouthful of very well-developed, keen-edged teeth, which it bared at me as it took its first inhalation.

  “Hello, little one.” I smiled down at the small Hsktskt in my arms as I severed its umbilical connection to the mother. It was a male. He hissed furiously and struggled as T’Nliqinara suctioned the excess mucous from his mouth. “Just as cheerful as your dad, I see.”

  I quickly placed the newborn into one of the isolation cribs. My wrist received a sharp bite in the process, but I had no time to do more than swivel and assist with the next emerging sibling.

  The delivery continued in this rapid, dangerous manner. The newborn were vicious, poised to kill from the moment of consciousness. I knew it was a survival instinct, but it didn’t make my job any easier. I wrestled three more young from the birth aperture before my patient paused as if to gather the final dregs of strength. This struggle culminated in a horrible scream and the expulsion of the last infant.

  She was nearly twice the size of the others. Her calm, buttercup-colored eyes regarded me solemnly before the tiny head lunged. My aching arms protested as I fought to keep her from tearing out my throat. The little darling was strong, too. T’Nliqinara wrenched her away just in time, and thrust the squirming bundle into a crib. After I took a deep, bracing gulp of air, I turned back to the dazed female.

  “Congratulations.” I tried to smile and began to clean up the mess of body fluids and birth sac remnants. “It’s three boys and two girls.”

  That was when I felt the cold rim of the rifle barrel nudge the side of my head. At the same time, Dr. mu Cheft walked in.

  He was short for a native, only seven and a half feet tall, and his turquoise hide was constantly flaking from spending so much time out of the water. His recessed eyes rotated toward the cribs. Dr. mu Cheft, like the translator, didn’t at first register the fact that the proud parents were savage killers or that Daddy had a rifle pressed to my skull.

  “Dr. Grey Veil,” he greeted me cheerfully as he beamed down at the infants. His rehydration must have gone well, I guessed. “Ah, a delivery. How enchanting. We don’t often see such happy events in Trauma, do we?”

  “Not like this,” I said.

  Mu Cheft started to reach in one of the cribs and pat one of the quints. Luckily, Nurse T’Nliqinara grabbed his flipper and yanked it back before he lost some flesh. He sobered at the sight of all those small, effective teeth, and the further realization that the proud father was holding a weapon on me.

  “Perhaps not quite as enchanting as I thought,” the native ’Zangian said.

  “Daranthura.” I waved my hands over the mother to distract the father, who seemed to be ignoring mu Cheft anyway. “Get the hell out of here.” My colleague slowly backed out of the exam room.

  Daddy hissed at me again.

  “This male wants to know if the brood is healthy,” the translator said.

  “Yes, they appear to be.” I eyed the Hsktskt down the length of the weapon. “Tell him to get this stupid thing away from my head.”

  The translator made a diplomatic interpretation, and relayed the Hsktskt’s terse reply as the rifle was lowered. “This male commands you to complete treatment swiftly.”

  “I plan to, rifle or no rifle.” New fathers were so predictable, I thought. Once all the excitement was over, they went right back to strutting.

  The female Hsktskt spoke up.

  The translator smiled. “This female asks to know about her young.”

  Through the translator I reported the condition of the infants once more, and received a rough smack on the shoulder from her. A gesture of Hsktskt gratitude. It hurt, but I smiled anyway.

  “The female wishes to express her recognition of your assistance,” the interpreter told me. “Your name will be used to designate the dominary, or last-born, as honor to you.”

  The male made what I personally interpreted as a thoroughly disgusted sound.

  “Thank you.” I observed a shadow moving across the opposite wall of the corridor outside. “I think we have a more important issue to discuss now.” I addressed the male Hsktskt. “You know the Militia has arrived.”

  The translator stifled a groan before he interpreted the furious reply. “This male indicates that defense forces for this colony are less than worthy of his attention.”

  “Worthy or not, we’d better negotiate safe passage for Daddy here to get off this planet.” The Hsktskt’s huge eyes narrowed to slits. “Surprised?” I asked as I completed my postpartum scans. “I’m only interested in preventing any further violence. From anyone.”

  “This male agrees,” the translator told me. “The female and the young will accompany him.”

  “I don’t know.” I eyed the exhausted mother and five cribs uneasily. “She’s been through a lot, and the newborns need individual examinations.”

  My advice was ignored, of course.

  I really couldn’t blame the Hsktskt for taking his family with him. Security was outraged that their defense grid had been so easily compromised. Not to mention how all the other patients felt, being terrorized and held hostage. No, it was better that the entire family got offplanet in a hurry.

  Thanks for visiting K-2, please don’t come again.

  The Militia swiftly agreed to the terms I negotiated on behalf of the Hsktskt. Everyone was eager to see the intruders depart as quickly as possible, afraid that detaining them might provoke a direct invasion by the Faction.

  T�
��Nliqinara, the translator and I escorted the Hsktskt group to the exterior of the facility. We had put the quints in a cargo unit with individual shielded compartments, to prevent them from eating each other. The weary female walked alongside the young, a curious sort of contentment illuminating her harsh features.

  The small, heavily armed shuttle the Hsktskt had used to penetrate the security grid lay just beyond the back entrance of the FreeClinic. The male Hsktskt kept his weapon trained on us as he backed up to the shuttle, shielding his family with his huge body.

  “Are they alone? Are there more of them?” one of the Militia asked me, and I shrugged as I watched them board the vessel.

  “I have no idea. Do you want to ask him?” I pointed at the male, who had paused on the boarding ramp and turned to look back at me. He stared at me for several long moments, then disappeared inside the vessel.

  “You’re welcome,” I said.

  Dr. Mayer appeared at my side as I watched the shuttle fire its engines and rise rapidly to disappear into the emerald sky.

  “Dr. Grey Veil.” His shrewd eyes reflected the usual intense dislike and a new glimmer of outrage. He wasn’t going to slap me on the back and thank me for a job well-done, I could see that. “Come with me.”

  I would have preferred to deliver another batch of Hsktskt killer-babies.

  The chief had a small, sterile office in the MedAdmin section of the facility. I sat down in front of his desk and resisted the urge to defend myself before he said anything. I wouldn’t have to wait long.

  “I want to know precisely what happened.”

  I gave him the particulars of the incident in the same terms I would have made a chart entry. When I was finished, it only took ten seconds for him to start in on me.

  “What did you think you were doing?”

  “Treating a patient,” I said. “Under dangerous conditions.”

  “You recognized both as Hsktskt assassins, didn’t you?”

  “I recognized a female in the final stages of labor. The male threatened us only to insure she would get proper treatment.”

  He made a disgusted sound. “I want a complete report on this incident before your next shift, Doctor.” I nodded. “According to Militia reports, no one was injured during this attack.”

  I wasn’t going to show him my bruises. “It wasn’t an attack.”

  “You may thank whatever God you worship for that, Doctor.”

  “I’m delighted no one got hurt,” I said. “Everything I did was an effort to make sure no one would, Dr. Mayer.”

  “Is that what you think?” His eyebrows lifted. “Your reckless actions today endangered the lives of the FreeClinic staff, the patients, and every other inhabitant of this colony.” He placed his hands on the edge of the empty desk, and I noted the whiteness around his knuckles. Gee, he was upset. “Colonial Security will conduct a full investigation of your role in these events, subject to established statutes under the Charter.” The Chief didn’t have to say it was at his request. He wasn’t finished, either. “You gambled with too many lives today, Doctor.”

  “What else could I do?”

  “There were any number of means at your disposal to disable both of those terrorists. Even a medtech student knows a syrinpress can be used as a weapon.”

  I thought about the number of times I could have been killed that day, and what Dr. William the Almighty Mayer would have done in my place. I looked away from my boss, and spotted a small, old-fashioned holographic document hung on the wall beside me.

  “ ‘I will follow that method of treatment which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel,’ ” I read out loud.

  The chief’s eyes darted over to his copy of the Hippocratic Oath, the pledge that all Terran physicians swore to uphold. His lips were getting white now.

  “Excuse me, Dr. Mayer.” I got to my feet and strode out of his office. And walked promptly into Duncan Reever.

  It was, well, unnerving. I let out a yelp and jumped back. He registered my response by arching a light eyebrow.

  “Dr. Grey Veil,” he greeted me, no inflection coloring his voice. I shoved my way past him and marched down the corridor. “Doctor?”

  I didn’t expect him to trail after me as I strode out the main entrance. K-2’s twilight was deepening from olive to emerald, while the moon ring glowed like a broken necklace of pearls. I paused, glanced over my shoulder and made an exasperated sound. For a telepath, Reever was incredibly dense.

  “What do you want, Chief Linguist Reever?”

  “I’ll walk with you,” he said. Like he was conferring some kind of significant honor.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I said, then walked off. He kept pace with me until I lost the last of my patience. I halted and turned on that fathomless gaze. Managed to avoid shouting. Barely. “Reever, go away!”

  “You’re walking in circles around the FreeClinic,” he felt he had to point out.

  “I know.”

  “You’re upset.”

  “There’s a keen observation.” I pushed a handful of dark hair from my eyes. “Anything else?”

  “One of my subordinates was present during your treatment of the Hsktskt raiders,” he said.

  “Yes, of course.” I had forgotten about the translator, and now felt a little ashamed of my outburst. “He was wonderful.”

  “I’m pleased to hear that.”

  “More than wonderful. To be honest, our success was due in large part to his excellent skills and performance under adverse conditions. You should give him a raise in compensation.” There, I’d made the appropriate comments. He would have to be satisfied with that.

  He wasn’t. “It was reported that the female Hsktskt named you as designate to the dominary infant.”

  “So?”

  “You invited a significant honor on yourself.”

  “Invited?” I was incredulous. “Believe me, Chief Linguist, I didn’t ask her to name her kid after me.”

  “In Terran terms, such a distinction would rank with that of a godmother, Doctor.”

  My foot began tapping the ground. “I’m still missing a point here. If there is one.”

  “Being that infant’s designate virtually guarantees you’ll never be taken as a Hsktskt slave.”

  What was he trying to insinuate? That I—“For God’s sake, Reever, I wasn’t given a choice at the time!”

  “Weren’t you?” he asked. “You brought five more Hsktskt killers into existence.”

  First Mayer, now this. “I treated a female giving birth,” I told him. “Under extreme duress, I might add, but that doesn’t matter.”

  “It doesn’t?”

  “No, Reever. It doesn’t.” I moved in. “I would have treated her no matter what happened. Threat or no threat. While the colony was under attack. Even if her mate began executing the others.” I made sure I had his full attention, our eyes locked, my face a mere inch from his. “With my last breath, Reever, I would have delivered those five Hsktskt killers.”

  The chief linguist nodded as though satisfied. He lifted his hand, and trailed the tips of his fingers over my rumpled hair. The gesture baffled me. “You would be unyielding to the end.”

  “Leave me alone, Reever.”

  I stalked off, and was relieved to see he didn’t follow me. It took a few moments to collect myself before a nagging inconsistency emerged from my muddled thoughts. Something the charge nurse had said during the delivery of the Hsktskt quints.

  “No one knows much about them,” T’Nliqinara had stated. So how did Duncan Reever know all this stuff about their “godmothers”?

  PART TWO:

  Application

  CHAPTER SIX

  Bartermen

  Colonial Security did investigate the incident involving the two Hsktskt intruders. Thoroughly. For an entire day it seemed like
anyone with a security clearance took a shot at grilling me. After all that, it was officially concluded that no Charter violation could be cited against me.

  My clearance didn’t sway the popular opinion held by enforcement and defense officials. Namely, that my actions during the treatment of the Hsktskt female had been reckless.

  “Doctor, you medical people aren’t trained to operate under hostage situations,” one of higher-ranking Militia felt obligated to point out. “You should have left the decisions to the on-site negotiator.”

  “I’m trained to deal with crisis,” I said, a distinct edge to my voice.

  “Let me give you some advice that saves lives,” the man had the audacity to say. “The next time you’re faced with a terrorist threat, make Militia notification your first priority. Then do exactly as you’re told.”

  Ana Hansen, who had come along as my personal adviser, chose that moment to pull me to my feet. She was strong, and fast, too. Before I could reply, I found myself unceremoniously pushed toward the door.

  “Thank you, and please excuse us,” Ana said as she practically dragged me out of the office. Once we’d left the Security building, she released me and exhaled with audible relief.

  “I wasn’t going to hit him,” I told her, rubbing the spot she had gripped so tightly. “Not very hard, anyway.”

  “You know, Cherijo, for a doctor, you have an impressive temper.”

  “Under ordinary conditions, I don’t,” I said. “It only comes out during certain situations—like when I’m being accused of criminal negligence. Who did that jerk think he was? I was just doing my job!”

  “I believe you did the best you could in a very dangerous situation,” Ana said. “That’s all anyone can be expected to do.”

  “Not according to that thick-skulled cretin—”

  “—who would not have appreciated you casting doubts on the legitimacy of his birth. Or learning of your painfully low estimation of his intelligence. Or knowing the exact anatomical location on his body you thought would best accommodate his advice,” Ana said.