It was almost noon. These few pieces of equipment would have to do for
the dissection. Watched suspiciously by the onlooking Disans, he started
back to the warehouse. It was a long, circuitous walk, since he didn't
dare give any clues to his destination. Only when he was positive he had
not been observed or followed did he slip through the building's
entrance, locking it behind him.
Lea's frightened eyes met his when he went into the office. "A friendly
smile here among the cannibals," she called. Her strained expression
gave the lie to the cheeriness of her words. "What has happened? Since I
woke up, the great stone face over there," she pointed to Ulv, "has been
telling me exactly nothing."
"What's the last thing you can remember?" Brion asked carefully. He
didn't want to tell her too much, less this bring on the shock again.
Ulv had shown great presence of mind in not talking to her.
"If you must know," Lea said, "I remember quite a lot, Brion Brandd. I
shan't go into details, since this sort of thing is best kept from the
natives. For the record then, I can recall going to sleep after you
left. And nothing since then. It's weird. I went to sleep in that lumpy
hospital bed and woke up on this couch. Feeling simply terrible. With
_him_ just simply sitting there and scowling at me. Won't you please
tell me what is going on?"
A partial truth was best, saving all of the details that he could for
later. "The magter attacked the Foundation building," he said. "They are
getting angry at all offworlders now. You were still knocked out by a
sleeping drug, so Ulv helped bring you here. It's afternoon now--"
"Of the last day?" She sounded horrified. "While I'm playing sleeping
beauty the world is coming to an end. Was anyone hurt in the attack? Or
killed?"
"There were a number of casualties--and plenty of trouble," Brion said.
He had to get her off the subject. Walking over to the corpse he threw
back the cover from its face. "But this is more important right now.
It's one of the magter. I have a scalpel and some other things
here--will you perform an autopsy?"
Lea huddled back on the couch, her arms around herself, looking chilled
in spite of the heat of the day. "What happened to the people at the
building?" she asked in a thin voice. The injection had removed her
memories of the tragedy, but echoes of the strain and shock still
reverberated in her mind and body. "I feel so ... exhausted. Please tell
me what happened. I have the feeling you're hiding something."
Brion sat next to her and took her hands in his, not surprised to find
them cold. Looking into her eyes he tried to give her some of his
strength. "It wasn't very nice," he said. "You were shaken up by it, I
imagine that's why you feel the way you do now. But--Lea, you'll have to
take my word for this. Don't ask any more questions. There's nothing we
can do now about it. But we can still find out about the magter. Will
you examine the corpse?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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