Andrews busied himself with theimaging system that would take full scans of the child. Brenda wheeled a cartof instruments to the table.
Dunlop was going to do all thetests himself. The child was quiet while he took the blood. When it came tothe spinal fluid sample, she cried out weakly. It was something he couldn’trush.
“Hold her still,” he told Brenda.
Brenda moved into the child’sview and squatted down. She smiled, her voice gentle as she brushed herfingers softly over the child’s forehead and moved to her shoulder to hold herstill.
The child tried to turn away,eyes darting in Dunlop’s direction.
“Ssh,” he calmed her, his voicehaving more affect than anything Brenda was doing. The crying turned to heavysobs that tore at his insides.
When he finished, he put thesample on the tray next to the blood.
“I’ll –” Brenda began.
He shook his head, cutting heroff. “I’ll do it myself.”
“Ready for scanning,” Andrewssaid.
Dunlop ran his hand soothinglyover the child’s head, her sweat hot and sticky, talking softly as the machinehummed. She was too sick to be scared; she didn’t understand a word, but histouch and his voice were comforting. She looked up at him with big tearfuleyes.
A few minutes later, Andrewsturned off the machine and wheeled it away from the examination table. “I’llhave full pictures for you in a couple of minutes.”
Dunlop nodded. “Thanks.”
Exhaustion took over the smallbody and he soothed her to sleep.
Dunlop ran the samples, then ranthem again. He studied the scans. Her anatomy wasn’t a whole lot differentfrom human; an extra liver and no appendix the main differences.
He leaned back in his chair andran a tired hand through his hair and turned to Andrews. “Your opinion?”
“Don’t you want a healthy sampleto compare?” Andrews asked.
Dunlop shook his head. “Noneed.”
Andrews checked the results andscratched his head. “You’re kidding?”
“You agree?” Dunlop asked.
Andrews nodded. The results wereunquestionable.
Dunlop switched on the intercom. “Sick bay to Commander Madison.”
“Madison here. Have you figuredit out?”
“It’s not something I’ve seenpersonally. At first, it looked like meningitis or encephalitis.”
“Have you figured it out?” Johnwanted a simple yes or no answer.
“It’s measles.”
“Measles! But that’s not fatal.”
“It is to those who’ve never seenit. This little one’s also got complications. Bronchopneumonia.”
“English, please.”
“She’ll be fine. So will theothers. Bed rest, fluids, and I’ll make up some antibiotics to preventcomplications setting in. I’m keeping this one until her fever breaks. Do youwant to tell her mother?”
“I think it’ll come better fromyou.” John had no desire whatsoever to speak to Bela.
With the disease identified,treatment was easy. Unfortunately, many children had also contracted bacterialcomplications. Leaving Kat and Wanda on the planet to identify and isolatethem, Dunlop set about preparing antibiotics. Measles had been almosteradicated on Earth, therefore it was not something they were familiar with,nor did they have the necessary medicines. The lab was nothing if not completeand it didn’t take long for the various drugs to be produced.
As Dunlop injected the child, hehoped desperately that there would be no side effects.
Andrews transported down to theplanet with a batch of vaccines. Every child was inoculated under the scrutinyof Bela who demanded and received the explanations with the same colddemeanour. McReidy stood her ground, providing the much needed buffer betweenthe woman and the medic.
Andrews returned to sick bay,muttering incoherently to himself and glared at Dunlop.
Dunlop sat with the child for theentire night, cooling her fevers and warming her chills. She slept uneasily,stirring many times. Every time she opened her eyes, she saw his face. He wascalm and relaxed, and soothed her back to sleep.
He brushed away everyone’sattempts to make him take a break. He didn’t object to coffee or company as hestudied the information that had been provided and familiarised himself withthe biology of the race.
By morning, her fever had broken. Her eyes opened clearly and she looked around, suddenly jerking upright.
Dunlop was half asleep. He feltthe little body move beneath his hand and lifted his head.
“Good morning, Princess,” hewhispered.
She recognised his face and hisvoice and she wasn’t afraid. She relaxed and lay back down.
He placed his hand on herforehead. “You’re looking brighter. Let’s have a proper look at you.”
Her temperature was normal; hereyes had cleared to a brilliant green. Her breathing was heavily congested,though easier than it had been the night before. He spoke softly to her allthe while. She answered him, her voice weak. He didn’t understand a word shesaid any more than she understood him, yet they communicated perfectly.
He could have switched the translatorson. It seemed too much of an effort.
A sudden look of caution in thechild’s eyes told Dunlop they were not alone. He turned and met the brighteyed smile of Kat coming on duty.
“You look awful. Why don’t yougo and get some rest. I can take over for a while.”
“I guess you’re right.” Dunloptrusted no one of his staff more than Kat. “She’s past the worst of it and herreadings are normalish.”
He stood up slowly. He wasexhausted. Two little hands grasped one of his and clung tightly, followed bya spiel of unintelligible dialogue.
“Ssh,” he soothed her, collapsingback to his seat. “It’s all right, Princess. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Princess?” Kat asked, a note ofsurprise in her voice.
“No one bothered to tell me hername.”
“It suits her.”
* * *
Princess she became known as forthe rest of her stay. She came to know the rest of the medical staff, but herface lit up the moment she saw Dunlop. She wanted him with her all the time. Although she didn’t complain when he had other duties to attend to, she had away of making him feel guilty.
He arranged for her to speak toher mother. Bela was overjoyed at her daughter’s recovery and happily agreedto the few more days the doctor wished to keep her. The other children wererecovering nicely. While he trusted the reports from his staff, he returned tothe planet twice daily to monitor their progress.
John refused to allow anyone butmedical staff down onto the planet. Several times, he tried to contact Bela. He still had a treaty to discuss. She refused to answer him, even
