'Can just anyone get in there?'
Lloyd said, 'Brenda went.'
'Mustafa took me through,' Brenda said. 'Pilots get in. Mustafa came to visit while he was in training and I was at Wide Wade's, Daddy. I used to wonder why you never came. If you ask-' She caught herself.
Yes, he could ask his wife's son the shuttle pilot to guide his stepfather through the old lander. But it was a risk.
He gave Karen a hand massage, both hands, he and Brenda trading chairs. When he had put her to sleep, Brenda stood up. 'When are you going to tell her?'
'When she isn't on drugs. When I figure out how to tell her about her sister Barda. When I think it won't kill her.'
'Look up speckles. We'll see you at dinner.'
He tracked down Dr. Nogales in a third floor office.
Rita Nogales
Surgery
Surgeon and Anesthesiologist
She was reading a computer screen. Jeremy told her, 'Karen doesn't look good.'
'Karen Winslow?' She tapped at a virtual keyboard. The configuration jumped: a torso with highlighted internal organs, then with highlighted patches of skin; a requisition form; a block of text. Nogales hadn't looked around. 'You wouldn't look good either if you'd scalded seventy centimeters of skin off your body. Your wife?'
'That's right.'
'We put superskin on. We wait. It's a life-form, you know. Human genes trimmed in some lab in Sol system to make it a universal donor. Wonderful stuff.' Now she looked up at him. 'We wait. It attaches itself. Eventually the patient gets up and goes home. There are old guys walking around with superskin faces and hands. Women too. You can just barely tell.'
He knew her. Narrow head, narrow nose, yellow-brown skin, and Oriental eyes: handsome, but an impatient, angry woman.
He couldn't quite remember, and he couldn't just stare. 'I know you've got her on drugs. Is she in a lot of pain?'
'Would be. She's taking Novabliss. With that in her she's happier than you are.' Her eyes widened in shock. 'No birdfucking allowed!'
Oh.
There being nowhere to run, he said, 'It's the law.'
'I didn't know you till you smiled. Jeremy... Jemmy.'
'How's Dolores?'
'Died.'
'Damn!'
'I got pregnant. A man killed her after I wasn't there to protect her.'
'Anyone I know?'
'No. I'll know him. Everyone comes to Medical sooner or later. Winslow, like Barda? Married Barda's... sister?'
'Right.'
'Clever. Jeremy, anyone could find out I served time in the Windfarm, but I don't call attention to it.'
'Sounds good to me.'
She was still studying him. 'That's right, you're a Crab shy! How on Earth did you get here at all? Fake records. What's with the knee?'
He told her. She nodded, nodded, used her keyboard. 'Okay, it says you're real, and your credit is midlevel. You can buy dinner but not a restaurant.'
'Can I go to the library?'
'The computers see you as a surgery patient. You can use the library while you wait for a doctor. I'll take you away from Brendan, and I can't fit you in for... is six hours enough? Then I'll look you over and we can talk.'
Lisa Schiavo was on duty in Reception and Recovery. Jeremy watched her for a bit. 'Got your computer back?'
'Winslow. How's, ah, Karen?'
'Dr. Nogales won't make any promises.'
'She's good that way. I mean, I'm sorry it's bad news, but Nogales won't lie. How's the knee?'
'Dr. Nogaies wants to look it over later today. Doctor, is everyone here a doctor? Aren't there any nurses or aides or-?'
'Doctor means you're doing something to run a hospital. It's courtesy. Like in a restaurant, saying Herr'ober gets you someone who can bring you food or clean your table? It used to mean headwaiter. But patients get put on diets, so even the commissary chefs are doctors-Winslow, I've got to work.'
'I'd like to wait in the library if you're not using it.'
'Log on with your credit ident. Doctors get priority.'
Up three floors. Lines of office doors along a corridor, all labeled, all closed. At the end of the hall, an open door.
LIBRARY
He found a dozen comfortable chairs and five screens. One wasn't working. Four were in use. One user looked wasted: his eyes had a glassy look. Patient. Three looked healthy and busy: doctors.
Jeremy sat down and waited placidly. He'd waited twenty-seven years.
The patient nodded off; rapped his forehead on the keyboard, jerked up to see gibberish. Staggered upright and went away.
Jeremy took his place. As his fingertips touched the keyboard, Jeremy's eyes stung with tears, abruptly, unexpectedly. The home he'd lost again and again was his at last. He was back in Spiral Town, eight years old again, and it was time for school.
All right. There were things he'd always wondered about. The teaching programs never had enough to satisfy him.
CRAB
There were hundreds of Earthlife varieties. Jeremy could pick one or two that resembled the Crab Peninsula.
OTTER
Earthlife: a mammal, streamlined, with bristly hair. It looked nothing at all like Otterfolk.
OTTERFOLK
Kismet tegumentum lutrahomines, the first intelligent species ever found off Earth.
Otterfolk were curious about humans.
Cavorite's crew loved that. They ran their Road well above Otterfolk beaches for fear that those who came after would meddle. Jeremy found references to species gone extinct because they attracted human attention. But they'd done some meddling themselves.
They'd taught the Otterfolk how to cultivate Earthlife fish and crustacea, and traded them simple tools for fish. That was a success.
They'd set up a cooperative exploring team.
Reference:
OTTERFOLK*EXPLORE*CLIFF SIDE
OTTERFOLK*EXPLORE*BEACHE S
The Otterfolk enjoy boat rides. We want to try a mixed crew. Arundez has designed a suitable boat, a
