Alien Emergencies - James White [278]
There was none, and the bleeding continued with undiminished force.
One of his alter egos had encountered something like this situation during a transplant on an entirely different life-form, a diminutive Nidian whose blood pressure had been only a fraction of that of this Hudlar. On that occasion the blood flow had also been a fine spray rather than the pulsing stream characteristic of arterial bleeding, and the trouble had been due to a mechanical failure rather than to faulty surgical technique.
Conway was not sure if that was the problem here, but a part of his multiple mind felt sure, and he decided to trust that part.
“Stop the artificial heart,” he said firmly. “Cut off the blood supply to the area.”
“We can easily make good the blood loss,” Hossantir objected, “but cutting off circulation for more than a few minutes could kill the patient.”
“Do it now,” Conway said.
Within a few seconds the bright red spray had subsided and died. A nurse cleaned Conway’s visor while Hossantir used suction to clear the operative field. They did not need the scanners to see what had happened.
“Technician, quickly,” Conway said.
Before he had finished speaking there was a furry little Nidian, looking like a gift-wrapped teddy bear in its transparent OR suit, hovering beside his elbow.
“The nonreturn valve of the connector is jammed in the closed position,” the Nidian said in its staccato, barking speech. “This was caused, I would say, by the valve setting being altered accidentally when it was struck by one of the surgical instruments. The flow from the artificial heart has been blocked and was forcing its way out via the recess of the valve setting control, hence the fine, high-pressure spray. The valve itself isn’t damaged, and if you will raise the organ so that I will have space to reset the valve…”
“I’d rather not move the heart,” Conway said. “We are very short of time.”
“I am not a doctor,” the Nidian said crossly. “This repair should properly be performed on a workbench, or at least in an area with room for my admittedly small elbows. Working in close contact with living tissue is…is repugnant to me. However, my tools are sterile in readiness for such emergencies.”
“Do you feel nauseous?” Conway asked worriedly. He had visions of the little being choking inside its helmet.
“No,” the Nidian said, “just irritated.”
Conway withdrew his Melfan instruments to give the technician more room to work. A nurse had clipped a tray of Earth-human DBDG instruments to the frame beside him, and by the time he had selected the ones he would need the Nidian had freed the jammed valve. Conway was thanking the little being for the speed of the repair when Hossantir broke in.
“I’m restarting the artificial heart,” it said.
“No, wait,” Conway said sharply. He was looking at the monitor and getting a feeling—a very vague feeling that was not strong enough even to be called a hunch—that any delay at all would be dangerous. “I don’t like the vital signs. There is nothing there which should not be there, considering that the flow from the artificial heart was interrupted, initially by the jammed connector valve and later when the system was shut down during the repair. I realize that if the artificial heart is not restarted within the next few minutes, irreversible changes leading to termination will take place in the brain. Even so, I have the feeling that we should not restart but go instead for an immediate resection of the replacement organ…”
He knew that Hossantir would want to object and take the safer course, that of restarting the artificial heart and waiting