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shocked and weakened as a result of the crash."
The Captain shook his head. "No life-form capable of in-flicting such injuries
inhabits this world. Most of the injuries I've seen are incised wounds or
those caused by the removal of a limb. This suggests the use of a sharp
instrument of some kind. The user of the instrument may or may not be still on
board the ship.
If it is on board, it may be that the beings who escaped were the lucky ones,
in which case I hate to think of what we may find inside the wreck. But you
can see now why I must resume overall responsibility, Doctor.
"The Monitor Corps is the Federation's law-enforcement arm," he concluded
quietly. "It seems to me that a very serious-crime has been committed, and I
am a policeman first and an ambulance driver second."
Before Con way could reply, Murchison said, "The condition of this cadaver,
and the other casualties I've examined, does not preclude such a possibility."
'Thank you, ma'am," the Captain said. "That is why I want the medical team
back on Rhabwar while Dodds and I arrest this criminal. If things go wrong,
Chen and
Haslam can get you back to the hospital "
"Haslam, sir," the Communications Officer's voice broke in. "Shall I request
Corps assistance?"
The Captain did not reply at once, and Con way began think-ing that the
other's theory could very well explain why a pre-viously undamaged ship had
released a distress beacon and then left the scene to try for a planetary
landing.
Something had gotten loose among the crew, perhaps. Something which might have
been confined had escaped, something very, very nasty. With an effort Conway
brought his runaway imagination under control. "We can't be absolutely sure
that a criminal was responsible for this. A nonintelligent experimental animal
which broke loose, injured and perhaps maddened with pain, could have done "
"Animals use teeth and claws, doctor," the Captain broke in. "Not knives."
"This is a completely new species," Conway replied. "We don't know anything
about them, their culture or their codes of behavior. They may be ignorant of
our particular laws."
"Ignorance of the law," Fletcher said impatiently, "has never been an
acceptable excuse for committing a criminal act against another intelligent
being. Just as ignorance of law by the in-nocent victim does not exclude the
being concerned from its protection."
"I agree " Conway began. "But I am not completely sure that a crime has been
committed," he went on. "Until I am sure, you, Haslam, will not send for help.
But keep a close watch on this area and if anything moves, apart from the
sur-vivors or ourselves, let me know at once. Very soon Dodds will be taking
off with the lander and "
"Naydrad and the casualties," Murchison ended for him. Quietly but firmly she
went on, "Your theory scares hell out of me, Captain, but it is still only a
theory. You've admitted as much yourself. The facts are that there are a large
number of casualties all around us. They don't know it yet but they are
entitled to the protection of Federation law. Whether their injuries are due
to the crash or to being carved up by some psychopathic or temporarily
deranged alien, they are also en-titled, under that same law, to all necessary
medical assistance."
The Captain looked toward the lander where the Pathologist was still working
on the specimen, then back to the Doctor.
"I've nothing to add," Conway said.
Fletcher remained silent while Murchison completed her investigation and Dodds
and Naydrad transferred two casualties into the lander. He did not speak while
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Sector%20General.txt the vehicle was taking off or when Conway selected a spot
under a large outcropping of rock which would give waiting casualties shelter
from the sun and windblown sand. Neither did he offer to help them carry the
injured e-ts to the assembly point even though, without the litter, it was
hot, back-breaking work.
Instead he moved among the e-ts with his vision pickup, recording them
indi-vidually before and after the ground had been disturbed around ftem by
Murchison and Conway, and always positioning him-self between the two medics
and the wreck.
Plainly the Captain was taking his strange, new role as a Policeman and
protector of the innocent bystanders very seri-ously indeed.
The cooling unit in his suit did not seem to be working very *eH and Conway
would have loved to open his visor for a few minutes. But doing that, even in
the shelter of the outcropping, would have meant letting in a lot of windblown
sand.
"Let's rest for a while," he said as they placed another casualty beside its
fellows. "Time we had a talk with Prilicla."
"That is a pleasure at any time, friends Murchison and Conway," the empath
said promptly. "While I am, of course, beyond the range of the emotional
radiation being generated down there, I sympathize and hope that your feelings
of anxiety about the criminal are not too unpleasant."
"Our feelings of bewilderment are much stronger," Conway said dryly. "But
maybe you can help relieve them by going over our information, incomplete as
it is, before the first cas-ualties reach you."
There was still a little doubt about the accuracy of the phys-iological
classifications, Conway explained, but there were three separate but related
types DCLG, DCMH, and DCOJ. The wounds fell into two general categories,
incised and abraded wounds which could have resulted when the ship's occupants
were hurled against sharp-edged metal during the crash, and a traumatic
amputation of major limbs which was so prevalent among the casualties that an
explanation other than the crash was needed to explain them.
All of the survivors had body temperatures significantly greater than the norm
for warm-blooded oxygen breathers, in-dicating a high metabolic rate and a
hyperactive life-form. This was supported by the uniformly deep state of
unconsciousness displayed by all of the casualties, and the evidence of
dehy-dration and malnutrition. Beings who burned up energy rapidly rarely
lingered in a semiconscious state. There were also signs that the beings had
an unusual ability to control bleeding from severe wounds. Coagulation in the
incised wounds, perhaps assisted by the presence of the sand, was rapid but
not abnor-mally so, while the stumps at the amputation sites showed little
evidence of bleeding.
"Supportive treatment to relieve the dehydration and mal-nutrition is all that
can be done until we get them to the hos-pital," Conway went on. "Murchison
has already specified the nutrients suited to their metabolism. You can also
insert sutures as you see fit. If the load is too great for you, which in my
opinion it is, retain Naydrad and send down only the pilot with the litter.
Murchison can ride with the casualties on the next trip. She will stay with
you while Naydrad comes down for the last batch."
There was a moment's silence, then the empath said, "I wider-stand, friend
Conway. But have you considered the fact that your suggestion will mean three
members of the medical team being on Rhabwar for a lengthy period and only
one, yourself, on the surface where medical assistance is most ur-gently
needed? I
.am sure that, with the aid of the Casualty Deck's handling devices and the
assistance of friends Haslam and Chen, I can cope with these patients."
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