Long View - Zelde M'Tana Part 14

Zelde waited, then realized she was in charge. "First Officer Adopolous. He should be here in a minute." She paused, hoping someone would give her any hint, what to say next.

Turk cleared her throat. "Mr. Adopolous hasn't joined us in here. Yet."

Now what? "Well, I guess we can wait a little." Zelde sat; a tray of drinks was brought and-the h.e.l.l with dirty gla.s.ses-she took a jash. "You like a drink, Ms.

Defose?" I hope not. But she had to offer. . . .

"Sure. Thanks." Suddenly the woman's strong features had a vulnerable look.

"Ship's people-usually you don't have much time for us groundhogs."

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No answer, Zelde decided, to that. "Drink up," and Defose did. And then had another, while Dopples didn't come in, and didn't come in-and then he did.

Holding his side with one hand-and below it, Zelde saw blood on his jacket-the First Hat sidled, crabwise, through the door and across the room. Bent forward, his pale face grinning on one side, he came to the table. Easing into a chair-Harger's-he sat across from Zelde, then ex-tended and opened his free hand. "This is yours, I think."'

The gold ring still pierced the b.l.o.o.d.y flesh. The cut, she noticed, was jagged.

Everybody talked at once. Then Torra Defose slappedj the table; the impact brought silence. She pointed to Dop ples.

l/ Gut-stabbed, are you? I'll get an aid car here."

"No." The man shook his head. "On the ship, I'll get treated. Standing orders- but thanks just the same." He smiled, but Zeide saw the effort it took him.

Defose nodded. "Police routine, then. What happened? Just briefly, for now."

Dopples drained a gla.s.s of trair; in seconds he looked more like staying alive. He reached for another and took one sip. "Report, sure. Well, I heard this holler and it didn't sound good. So I went to find out, and-"

The timing wasn't right. Zelde said, "You go by way of the ship, did you?"

Dopples laughed; the trair was. .h.i.tting him fast. "You ever try to run with your pants down?"

He'd better not talk too much, she thought-not here. "But that was you, ran past just as I threw the knife after the one that cut me?"

"None other, M'tana."

"And you caught him?"

"Sure as h.e.l.l I did that. Not all good to it, I suppose you've noticed. Faster than I thought he'd be, and I slipped, too. But-" As if he'd forgot what he was saying, Dopples fell silent.

Zelde frowned. "But why-you've never even liked me!"

He shook his head, and now his voice was faint again. "Makes no difference. Saw the mucker, knife out at a shipmate. Had to go for him. And when I saw what he'd taken . . ." His left hand searched a jacket pocket and 123.

came out again. "I collected some interest." On the table he laid a matched set of b.l.o.o.d.y ears.

The Policewoman spoke first. "Did you kill the man? If so, where's the body?"

He shook his head. "d.a.m.n if I know. I went dizzy when he holed me. Soon as I had him stopped, I did what you see and came off away. Got lost-not sure exactly where it was. Alive or dead, / don't know." His mouth twisted; he drank more trair. "If I owe the law anything, I expect I'll pay it." His head slumped forward, chin on chest, but his eyes stayed open.

Torra Defose stared at him, then looked around at the others. "Let's get one thing straight. UET doesn't put up with lawlessness-anywhere. If you were local citizens, the two of you'd sit in jail until we got this thing cleared up. But ships are different; they have to be. And I'm keeping in mind that you were the victims, most likely. So I'm paroling you-Adopolous and M'tana, both-back to your captain. And-"

Harger came in, Juvier following. "We have the cars here. Can we-" He looked at Defose, and stopped.

Watching Dopples, Zelde saw he wasn't in shape to manage anything. She said, "Yes. Let's get to the ship now." The gold ring, with its b.l.o.o.d.y tag, she put in her belt pouch.

She helped Dopples outside. Juvier came out with Dar-lene slung over his shoulder; Harger guided the young rating, and Torra Defose gave Turk a hand with Carlo Maur-agin. Then they were all in the cars, and the Policewoman stepped back. "I'll call your captain tomorrow," she said. "If I need to question any of you further, he'll tell you." Then Juvier started the car.

The ride seemed like close to forever; at shipside, Zelde was p.o.o.ped. She climbed upship and rousted the watch to bring the rest up; she and Harger and Juvier had done enough carrying for a while. Waiting, she sent a galley standby to wake the medic, Fesler. He arrived as Dopples was brought in. "Gut wound," she said. "You ready to handle it?"

"Oh, my G.o.d!" Barely awake, Fesler tried to under-stand. "Cup of coffee-time for that?" She nodded, poured 124.

a cup full and handed it to him. "Give me a minute. I'll be all right." Aides came and took Dopples away. "Anything you can tell me?"

"A knife, is all. About an hour ago, maybe."

Sipping the hot black stuff, he looked at her. "You're bleeding, yourself."

"Nothing big; it can wait."

"Maybe. But propping the First Hat-that'll take a while. Just a minute." He went to the intercom, spoke, listened and spoke again. Coming back, he said, "I can't do anything on him for several minutes yet. Let's go to the infirmary. If yours is minor, as you say, I can handle it there."

Too tired to argue, she followed him. In the white room, she sat and took off the wig. He used a wet sponge to soak the wadded cloth loose from her wound. He looked, pursing his lips but not whistling aloud. "Dull knife-on your neck there, it's more sc.r.a.pe and bruise than a real cut."

"Sharp enough to slice my ear. How's it look?"

He was still dabbing at it. "Messy. It'll heal ugly-ragged, with an odd nubbin at the front. I'd better-"

"Just a minute." She brought out the ring with the severed lobe. "Could you sew this back on?"

He took it, held it to the light, and squinted. Then he shook his head. "Too late, I think. I'd be afraid to try. With the dirt ground into the raw edge, I could give you gangrene. In town, earlier, maybe a real doctor could have done it."

In town? Police Headquarters, maybe? She shrugged- the h.e.l.l with it. "All right.

You said something?"

He blinked. "Oh. Yes-that I'd better trim away these tatters. Do you want to see first, and decide?"

"No. You want to make it neat, go ahead."

He nodded. "I'll give you a pain shot. Then in a few minutes, when it takes-"

h.e.l.l with that, too. "We don't have time. There's Dopples, waiting." She outscowled him. "I didn't have no pain shot when the p.i.s.ser cut me!"

Now Fesler shrugged. "All right. Just hold still, then." He took surgical scissors from the steamer, unwrapped them, and began.

Because he was being slow and careful, she had more pain than she expected. But she took it; she didn't even let 125.

it make her tense up. Until he said, "Brace yourself. Antiseptic." Then she came half out of her chair; Fesler's hand on her shoulder eased her back to sitting down.

'"Easy does it," he said. "It's all right, Zelde." Then of a sudden, as he dabbed the stuff on her neck-it didn't sting much, there- and put on a light bandage, she couldn't hear so good, or talk at all. He said something she couldn't catch; she looked at him and he blurred on her. Zelde shook her head, and put her face down in her hands for a minute.

Fesler was still talking; she could hear the noise but it didn't make words to her.

This s.h.i.t got to stop! She bit her teeth together and squinched her eyes shut, hard.

Then she heard him say, ". . . just shock-have a drink." She sat up, took the gla.s.s and gulped raw spirits; even with her eyes watering, now she saw better. She tried to grin; the medic said, "That should do it." For shock"! The man wasn't thinking- but what the h.e.l.l. . . .

One deep breath, and then: "Yeah. Thanks, Fesler. You ready for Dopples now?

Can I come along?" And she could stand up, and put herself back where she was supposed to be; she looked to Fesler.

He nodded, and she followed him. Two doors along the corridor, they entered the small surgery. Dopples lay with a sheet over legs and hips; on his belly he held something wrapped in a towel. A young woman, one of Fesler's aides, stood at one side.

The medic pointed to the towel. "What's that?"

Adopolous grinned; his voice was a husky whisper. "Ice-bag. Don't know if it's kosher but it feels good. I bullied her into it; ail right?"

Fesler shook his head. "It doesn't matter. But, sir-why didn't you get treatment in town? I've been taught to go inside, as I'll have to, here-but I've only done it on ani- mals, and that was more than five years ago. You should have-"

"Hold it." The hoa.r.s.e voice came stronger now. "In town, you say? They give me a shot, right? And it's babble juice, it has to be--and there I am, talking my head off in front of UET staff? And so they get Police troops up here and retake the ship."

He shook his head; it barely moved. "No. Get on with it, Fesler."

The man's nod looked reluctant. "All right. I'll have to cut extensively, to make sure I find all the damage. Don't 126 worry about that-anything that can be patched, I have the materials to do it. Organic sealer where that's sufficient, and organic tape to put over the st.i.tches if I have to sew- to avoid adhesions. And plenty of anti-infectants, organic and inorganic both. So you see-"

Zelde barely heard Dopples' laugh. "I see that if talk counted, I'd be healed now.

Fesler, trot out your stuff."

The medic and his aide began laying out apparatus. Zelde paid no attention; she said to Dopples, "But if we didn't have Fesler, what would've happened?"

"We do have him. What's bothering you, M'tana?"

"He's not a real surgeon but you put your life on him. I-"

"You heard what I said. I can risk me, but not the whole ship. The ship comes before my life-and before yours, too. Don't ever forget that!"

"I-I won't." Gently she touched his shoulder. "First a shipmate, then the ship, you risk yourself for. Mr. Adopo-lous-"

He tried to frown. "Just learn the lesson, that's all." Fesler signaled that he was ready; Dopples said, "All right, M'tana; you'd better leave now." She turned to go.

"Oh- stop by my quarters and tell Hilde and Helga where I am, will you? And that I'm all right, and not to come looking for me until I send for them. Got it?"

"Yes, sir." Outside, closing the door, she thought some more about Cyras Adopolous.

A little way down the hall, Turk stood. Zelde went to the stocky woman and put a hand to her shoulder. "It's a d.a.m.n shame. All that trouble, and we got no place.

We didn't do s.h.i.t!"

Turk gave a quick hug, then moved back. "Not your fault, Zelde. It's a disappointment, sure; we're so h.e.l.lish short of time. But I think I spotted a sign or two-old emblems, little stuff, twenty years out of date so it could be coincidence.

Or might be just right, for our time-lag from Earth. But I'll hit Old Town again and try some more." Turk made a face. "Maybe I should take the loan of your wig, look different next time."

"Sure, if you want." From the look of Turk as she turned to walk away, Zelde couldn't tell if she'd been joking, or not.

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But for now, Zelde had a job to do for Dopples. She went downship to do it.

She could never tell the two blonde women apart. The one who opened the door this time had bangs now-but so did the other, standing behind a little. Both naked, hair mussed, a little sweaty and out of breath.-were they having somebody else in here? No-not on Dopples; they wouldn't dare that. Must be playing together, just by themselves. That figured-for two women, one man had to be short rations.

She thought they weren't going to speak, but the one behind finally said, "Dopples isn't here."

That gave her a lead, how to tell it without shaking them too much. "I know. He sent me to explain why." So right off, they'd know he wasn't dead or anything. "We ran into some trouble, see, down in Old Town." She told it, the bare bones of what had happened. "And Fesler's patching him up right now."

At Dopples' final instructions they pouted, but had to agree. Then the one in front said, "Come on in and get comfortable. Three's company sometimes."

"No, thanks." Her hunch "Was, Dopples wouldn't like that. "Thanks anyway, but I'm bushed."

Back in quarters, though, undressing quietly so as not wake Parnell, she wasn't so sure. It didn't help, lying beside him, feeling sticky-skinned but putting off a shower because of the noise-it didn't help that Parnell was snoring enough to keep her awake for quite a while.

She woke early, though, and got up and showered. The bandage on her neck got wet; she peeled it off and decided she could do without it. In the mirror she looked at the clipped ear-Fesler had trimmed a good neat line. If the other was the same, n.o.body'd even notice, once it healed.

Now, moving her head to see herself from different angles, she felt the unbalanced weight of the other ring. She frowned; the thing put strain on her neck; if she didn't pay attention she tended to hold her head not quite straight. Well, maybe she'd get used to it. For now, she taped it to her neck as if for combat practice; that way she could ignore it, mostly. If I'd done that last night-but she hadn't.

Looking for fresh clothes, she opened a drawer. It 128.

squeaked; Parnell groaned, turned over, and sat up. He blinked at her. "Well. Did you have a good time in Old Town? Lera said-I couldn't sleep, and went up to Control for a few minutes-she said you and Turk decided to stay later and come back with Dopples' party."

She found she was holding a hand to her neck and ear, covering the hurts.

Deliberately she took the hand away and turned to show him. He sucked in breath; she said, "A little bit of trouble-bandits, three of them. I caught this, and Dopples got gut-stabbed. We better call Fesler and make sure he fixed it all right." Then she shook her head. "No-if anything was wrong, he'd of called here."

Parnell only looked at her. She said, "I guess I was dumb," and told how it all happened. "I killed two, right enough, but some late. And Dopples thinks he got the third one. I-"

Parnell stood, and came to her. He cupped a hand over her hurt ear. "I'm sorry, Zelde." He kissed her, then turned to the intercom.

Fesler reported that First Hat Adopolous was repaired as well as could be done, and was sleeping. "I think he'll be all right, Captain. But not up and around in a hurry. I had no idea that one stab could cut a man's insides up so much!"

No-Dopples hadn't eaten yet. A little water and some juice, at his first dazed waking. Food later in the day, certainly. Yes-the captain would be informed of any changes.

"Thanks, Fesler. Good job." He turned to Zelde. "I'm due on watch before too long. But I could wait, and have breakfast brought to me there."

She went to him, and felt his hands move on her. "Sure, Parnell. I'll bring it myself."

After he left, she lay there, thinking. No two ways about it, Parnell wasn't his old self. Tired more, and hurting and trying not to let on-he'd had his "st.i.tch in the side" again, and couldn't pretend it didn't bother him a lot. And s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g didn't seem to help him now. She frowned. Was it bad for him, even? How could she ask him, something like that?