Read The Ship Who Sang for Free Online Page B

except to hope that the injury to the brain has, as usual, left the intellect alone.’
    â€˜Julie O’Grady and the Colonel’s Lady are sisters under the skin,’ muttered Helva for she could see through the MedOffs words that the victims of the plague were not as robbed of their bodies by disease as she had been by birth defects.
    â€˜Our skintight friend is closer to the truth than she knows,’ Onro snorted. ‘Except for infants, there isn’t one of them that wouldn’t be better off in a shell right now. They aren’t going to go anywhere the way they are.’
    â€˜Do you wish to stand by for report?’ asked Central Control.
    â€˜Take long?’
    â€˜You could get a little sleep,’ suggested Helvablandly. ‘These reports don’t usually take too long,’ she added, tapping out a private distress signal to Central as she spoke.
    â€˜Not long, MedOfficer Onro,’ said Central on cue.
    â€˜You’ll get a crick in your neck, Onro,’ remarked Helva as she saw him stretch out his long legs and scrunch down in the pilot chair for a catnap. ‘Use the pilot’s bed. I’ll give you a jolt as soon as the message returns.’
    â€˜You’d better or I’ll unscrew your safety panel,’ Onro snapped, lurching drunkenly toward the bunk.
    â€˜Yes, of course.’ Helva watched as he took the two deep breaths that were all that were needed before he was oblivious.
    Her contact with Theoda began, sight and sound. Theoda was bending over a bed, her strong fingers soothing the motionless frame of the woman there. Flaccid muscles, lack of reflexes, pastry skin, unfocusing eyes, loose mouth; the chords of the neck strained briefly as the patient made some incoherent sound deep in the throat.
    â€˜There is no sensation in the extremities that we can discover,’ the voice of an out-of-sight person said. ‘There is some reaction to pain in the torso and in the face but we can’t be sure. The patient, if she understands us, can give us no sign.’
    Helva noticed, and she hoped that Theoda did, that the half-closed eyelids made an almostimperceptible downward motion, then upward. Helva also observed the flaring of the nostrils.
    â€˜Theoda,’ she said quietly so as not to startle her. Even so, Theoda straightened quickly in surprise.
    â€˜Helva?’
    â€˜Yes. In the scope of my limited range of vision, I could see a twitch of the eyelids and a motion of the nostrils. If the paralysis is as acute as I have learned from MedOff Onro, these bare flickers may be the only muscle controls the patient has. Please ask one of the observers to concentrate on the right eye, another on the left and you observe only the nostrils. Establish a pattern of reply and explain it to the patient and see if she understands you.’
    â€˜Is that the ship?’ an off-sight person demanded irritably.
    â€˜Yes, the XH-834 that brought me here.’
    â€˜Oh,’ was the disparaging reply, ‘that’s the one that sings. I thought it was the JH or GH.’
    â€˜Helva is not an “it”,’ said Theoda firmly. ‘Let us try her suggestion, since her vision is considerably more acute than ours and her concentration far superior.’
    To the patient, Theoda said quietly and distinctly, ‘If you hear me, please try to lower your right eyelid.’
    For an age-long second, there was no movement; then as though the effort were tremendous, the right lid slowly descended the barest fraction.
    â€˜In order to be sure this was not an involuntary motion, will you try to dilate your nostrils twice.’
    Very slowly, very slowly Helva caught the motion of the nostrils. She also saw, which was more important, the tiny beads of perspiration on the upper lip and brow, and quickly called attention to them.
    â€˜What a tremendous effort this must be for that imprisoned mind,’ said Theoda with infinite compassion.