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completely dependable.
Thornnastor wanted to know everything, and it was certainly not reticent,
about anything.
As you are already aware, Conway, it said ponderously as he was about to
leave, we Diagnosticians are generally held in high regard among the members
of our profession, and the respect shown us, insofar as it can be shown in a
madhouse like this, is tempered by pity for the psychological discomfort we
experience, and an almost lighthearted acceptance of the medical miracles we
produce.
We are Diagnosticians and, as such, medical miracles are expected of us,
the Tralthan went on. But the production of true medical miracles, or radical
surgical procedures, or the successful culmination of a line of xenobiological
research, can be personally unsatisfying to certain types of doctor. I refer
to those practitioners who, although able and intelligent and highly dedicated
to their art, require a fair apportionment of credit for the work they do.
Conway swallowed. He had never before heard the Diagnosticianin-Chief of
Pathology talk to him like this, and the words would have been more suited to
a lecture on his personal shortcomings from the Chief Psychologist. Was
Thornnastor, knowing of his fondness for reaching solutions and initiating
treatments with the minimum of consultation, suggesting that he was a
grandstander and was therefore unsuitable material for a Diagnostician? But
apparently not.
As a Diagnostician one rarely obtains complete satisfaction from producing
good work, the Tralthan went on, because one can never be wholly sure that
the work performed or the ideas originated are one s own. Admittedly the
Educator tapes furnish other-species memory records only, but purely imaginary
personality involvement with the tape donor leaves one feeling that any credit
due for new work should be shared. If the doctor concerned is in possession of
three, five, perhaps ten, Educator tapes, well, the credit is spread very
thinly.
But nobody in the hospital, Conway protested, would dream of withholding
the credit due a Diagnostician who had-
Of course not, Thornnastor broke in. But it is the Diagnostician itself who
withholds the credit, not its colleagues. Unnecessarily, of course, but that
is one of the personal problems of being a Diagnostician. There are others,
for the circumvention of which you will have to devise your own methods.
All four of the Tralthan s eyes had turned to regard Conway, a rare occurrence
and proof that Thornnastor s vast mind was concentrating exclusively on his
particular case. Conway laughed nervously.
Then it is high time I visited O Mara to take a few of those tapes, he said,
so that I will have a better idea of what my problems will be. I think
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initially a Hudlar tape, then a Melf and a Kelgian. When I m accustomed, if I
ever become accustomed to them, I ll request some of the more exotic...
Some of the mental stratagems used by my colleagues, Thornnastor continued
ponderously, ignoring the interruption, are such that they might conceivably
tell their life-mates about them, but certainly no person with a
lesser relationship. In spite of my overwhelming curiosity regarding these
matters, they have not confided in me, and the Chief Psychologist will not
open its files.
Two of its eyes curved away to regard Murchison and it went on. A few hours
or even days delay in taking the tapes is not important. Pathologist
Murchison is free to go, and I suggest that you take full advantage of each
other while you are still able to do so without otherspecies psychological
complications.
As they were leaving, Thornnastor added, It is the Earthhuman taped component
of my mind which has suggested this..
CHAPTER 11
The theory is that if you are to accustom yourself to the confusion of alien
thought patterns, O Mara growled at him as Conway was still rubbing the sleep
out of his eyes, it is better in the long run to confuse you a lot rather
than a little at a time. You have been given the tapes during four hours of
light sedation, during which you snored like a demented Hudlar, and you are
now a fiveway rugged individualist.
If you have problems, the Chief Psychologist went on, I don t want to know
about them until you re absolutely sure they re insoluble. Be careful how you
go and don t trip over your own feet. In spite of what your alter egos tell
you to the contrary, you only have two of them.
The corridor outside O Mara s office was one of the busiest in the hospital,
with medical and maintenance staff belonging to a large variety of
physiological classifications walking, crawling, wriggling, or driving past in
both directions. Seeing his Diagnostician s armband and realizing, rightly in
his case, that a certain amount of mental confusion and physical
uncoordination might be present, they gave him as wide a berth as possible.
Even the TLTU
inside a pressure sphere mounted on heavy caterpillar treads passed him with
more than a meter to spare.
A few seconds later a Tralthan Senior he knew passed by, but the big FGLI
was not known to Conway s other selves, so his reaction time was slowed. When
he swiveled his head to return the Tralthan s greeting, he was overcome
suddenly by vertigo, because the Hudlar and Melf components of his mind were
of beings whose heads did not swivel. Instinctively he reached toward the
corridor wall to steady himself. But instead of a hard, tapering Hudlar
tentacle or a shiny black
Melfan pincer, the member supporting him was a flaccid pink object with five
lumpy digits. By the time he had steadied himself both physically and
mentally, he had become aware of an Earth-human DBDG in Monitor green waiting
patiently to be noticed.
You were looking for me, Lieutenant? Conway asked.
For the past couple of hours, Doctor, the officer replied. But you were
with the Chief Psychologist on a taping session and could not be disturbed.
Conway nodded. What s the trouble?
Problems with the Protector, the Lieutenant said, and went on quickly.
The Exercise Room-that s what we re calling it now even though it still looks
like a torture chamber-is underpowered. Tapping into the main power line for
the section would necessitate going through four levels, only one of which is
inhabited by warmblooded oxygen-breathers. The structural alterations in the
other three areas would be very time-consuming because of our having to guard
against atmosphere contamination, especially where the Illensan chlorine-
breathers are concerned. The answer would be a small power source sited within
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the Exercise Room. But if the Protector broke free, the shielding around the
power unit might not survive, and if the shielding went, the radiation hazard
would necessitate five levels -above and below the area-being evacuated, and a
lot more time would be wasted cleaning the-
The room is close to the outer hull, Conway said, feeling that a lot of time
was being wasted right now by asking a medical man s advice on purely
technical questions, and fairly simple ones at that. Surely you can set up a
small reactor on the outer hull, safe from the Protector, and run a line
into-
That was the answer I came up with, too, the Lieutenant broke in, but it
gave rise to other problems, administrative rather than technical. There are
regulations regarding what structures can and cannot be placed on the outer
hull, and a reactor there, where one had never been before, might necessitate
alterations in the hospital s external traffic flow patterns. In short, there
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