"James White - SG 04 - Ambulance Ship" - читать интересную книгу автора (White James)

тАЬAnd alive.тАЭ
For a few seconds the controlroom speaker and the Captain held their
breath, then Madden said firmly, тАЬPower Room, maneuvering thrust in five
minutes. Astrogation, match courses and close to five hundred yards. Ordanace,
stand by. Surgeon-Lieutenant Brenner will prepare for EVA.тАЭ
The debate was over.
 During the ensuing four hours Lieutenant Brenner examined the creature,
initially at a safe distance and later as closely as his suit would allow. He
was sure that the analyzer had been a little too optimistic over what was most
likely a not quite frigid corpse. Certainly the thing was no threat because it
could not move even if it had wanted to. The covering of what looked like large,
flat barnacles and the rock-hard cement which held them together saw to that.
Later, when he was ending his report to the Captain, he said, тАЬTo sum up,
sir, it is suffering from a pretty weird skin condition which got out of control
and caused it to be dumpedтАФcertainly it didnтАЩt fly out here. This implies a race
with space-travel who are subject to a disease which scares them so badly that
they dump the sufferers into space while they are still alive.
тАЬAs you know,тАЭ he continued, тАЬI donтАЩt have the qualifications to treat e-t
diseases, and the being is too large to fit into our hold. But we could enlarge
our hyperspace envelope and tow it to Sector General.
тАЬThat would make a nice break in the mapping routine,тАЭ he added hopefully,
тАЬand IтАЩve never been to that place. IтАЩm told that not all the nurses there have
six legs.тАЭ
The Captain was silet~t fo1 ~ moment, then he nodded.
тАЬI have,тАЭ he said. тАЬSome of them have more.тАЭ
* * *

Framed in the rescue tenderтАЩs aft vision screen the tremendous structure that
was Sector Twelve General Hospital hung in space like a gigantic cylindrical
Christmas tree. Its thousands of viewports were constantly ablaze with light in
the dazzling variety of color and intensity necessary for the visual equipment
of its patients and staff, while inside its three hundred and eighty-four levels
was reproduced the environments of all the intelligent life-forms known to the
Galactic FederationтАФa biological spectrum ranging from the ultrafrigid methane-
breathers through the more normal oxygen- and chlorine-breathing types up to the
exotic beings who existed by the direct conversion of hard radiation.
In addition to the patients, whose numbers and physiological
classifications were a constant variable, there was a medical and maintenance
staff comprising sixty-odd differing life-forms with sixty different sets of
mannerisms, body odors and ways of looking at life.
The staff of Sector General prided themselves that no case was too big,
too small or too hopeless, and their reputation and facilities were second to
none. They were an extremely able, dedicated, but not always serious bunch, and
Senior Physician Conway could not rid himself of the idea that on this occasion
someone was playing a complicated joke on him.
тАЬNow that I see it,тАЭ he said dryly, тАЬI still canтАЩt believe it.тАЭ
Pathologist Murchison, who occupied the position beside him, stared at the
image of Torrance and its tow without comment. On the controlroom ceiling, where
it clung with six fragile, suckertipped legs, Doctor Prilicla trembled slightly
and said, тАЬIt could prove to be an interesting and exciting professional