Ascending - James Alan Gardner [65]
His voice trailed off as he caught sight of Festina shaking her head. “The Shaddill wouldn’t need to dissect Oar. They designed her race; they built her whole genome down to the last little nucleotide. What could a dissection tell them they don’t already know?”
“Perhaps,” said Nimbus, “we should perform our own dissection to find out.”
I glared at him and swept my fist through the place where his nose would have been.
“Settle down,” Festina told me. “I assume Nimbus means we should give you a medical exam. See if there’s anything unusual.”
“There is nothing unusual about me,” I protested. “I am more healthy than anyone else on this ship.”
“Then you’re unusual, aren’t you?” my friend said with a smile. “Anyway, I want you examined. If nothing else, we should know what the Pollisand did to you. Did he just fix your injuries, or did he do something else while he had you on the operating table?”
“What might he have done?” I asked.
“I don’t know. That’s why we’re going to check you out.”
“I do not wish to be checked out,” I grumbled. “Such treatment is only for damaged people.”
“Humor me,” Festina said, “it’s important. Your friends can keep you company…unless you’d rather be examined in private?”
“No,” I told her. “I have had a good deal of privacy in my life. If you think I enjoy being alone, you are much mistaken.”
Festina’s breath caught in her throat. She let it out slowly. “I’m sorry. But you aren’t alone now, Oar. I promise.” She gave a small smile. “Go to sick bay, all of you—the sergeant will show the way.” She glanced toward the door; the mook man nodded. Festina turned back to me. “I’ll join you as soon as I can, but I have to look into a few things. Okay?”
“Okay,” I answered, using her own vernacular. Then, most bravely, I asked, “Do doctors hurt?”
“If he hurts you,” Festina said, “you have my permission to punch him in the nose.”
This made me very happy… but I still looked back with a lump in my throat as I went out the door.
Festina sat at the table, her eyes staring off into space as if she were thinking very great thoughts. I decided it would be pleasant to think great thoughts of my own; but the only thing in my mind was that I was walking away from my friend.
8 Apparently, the Technocracy welcomed Freeps, Tye-Tyes, and other Divian subspecies as citizens. Many Divian planets had even joined the Technocracy as Fringe Worlds…which I believe means they served as Faithful Sidekicks to real worlds.
13
WHEREIN I AM THOROUGHLY EXAMINED
More Tiny Things Invading My Person
Sick bay did not hurt, but it tickled. I could not see what did the tickling, so I blamed Nimbus—I thought he was sending specks of himself to brush against me, making my nose itchy and causing awkward irritations all over my body. But the cloud man swore he had nothing to do with it; he claimed to be suffering personal disturbances of his own, because the air of the infirmary was filled with Analysis Nano.
I did not know what Analysis Nano was, but the navy physician was delighted to explain. He was, in fact, delighted about every conceivable aspect of existence: the opportunity to examine me was “fabulous”; my personal transparency was “amazing”; and the chance to carry out a task for Festina was “a great, great honor.” His name was Havel, a paunchy watery-eyed human who seemed to perceive more reasons to laugh than anyone else in the room. Dr. Havel was constantly chuckling or giggling or snickering over things that seemed quite ordinary indeed. He also displayed much hearty enthusiasm about anything that passed before his eyes…which meant when he said, “Ho, ho, you’re a stunner, the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen,” I was not so gratified as I might have wished.
Some men are too easy to impress. When they praise your ethereal crystalline beauty, you get the feeling they would be just as ecstatic over a glittery red pebble or a potato shaped like a fish.
On the other hand, Dr. Ha-Ha-Havel was a good person to approach for clarifications of important Scientific