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A few minutes later, Setra Tuang returned. She moved stiffly, all grace gone.
Now her features made a blank mask at the corner of each eye, a tear glistened
but did not fall.
Mellieur rose and went to her. She gripped him tightly her knuckles showed
white. "Farig." When she let go he helped her, as though she were aged, into
her chair.
The two tears ran down her face. Another pair formed but she blinked them
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away and shook her head, short hair barely rippling with the movement. "It's
the slow death, Farig Tom says there's no question. And it's not bad enough
that we're already low on antigen! The damned thing's mutated again what the
child has, the stuff from Earth can barely stem, let alone cure!"
Mellieur gasped. "Poor Areyn!"
Between them, Farig and Setra explained. The disease, which afflicted only
young children born on the planet, had the symptoms of a metabolic disorder in
some respects food ceased to nourish and the child dwindled, its rounded limbs
shriveling to bony shanks and its torso shrinking to a skeletal appearance.
Yet there was a seeming factor of contagion perhaps some native virus, as yet
unidentified, that acted to predispose or precipitate the malady.
At first the blight had struck seldom, a rarity that caused isolated grief
but no widespread concern. Then, only a few years ago, the wasting sickness
had swept an entire community. Two pitiful corpses, frozen, had been taken to
Earth for study; the first Krieger ship to reach Waterfall had brought
supplies of a curative agent. "Antigen, we call it," said Farig Mellieur.
"That's not the full proper term, just what we use for short. Catch a child
early and dose it for thirty days complete cure. Start treatment later on, it
may need the stuff for nearly a year."
"And the ravagesbefore treatment," said Setra Tuang, "aren't reversible." On
her fingers, she counted. "Muscle degeneration, coordination loss, partial
paralysis, whatever degree of sight and hearing has been lost. Intelligence& "
Face in her hands, she rocked back and forth; only small noises escaped her.
"They warned us," said Farig, "that the thing might mutate that the antigen
could be less effective or even useless against changed forms. We couldn't
tell for sure some cases seemed more resistant so we kept the children on
treatment longer, to be on the safe side. That's why we're running low, now."
On the table his hands clenched. "We're expecting we were promised supplies of
an improved agent, effective against a wider variety of strains. But that
ship's not due here for at least six months. And Areyn& "
Jay found words. "Who who is Areyn?"
Setra raised her head now the tears streamed. "My sister's youngest three
years old. Sualna's daughter by Tom Dardeen."
Rapidly, Jay asked questions. Raelle looked at him, frowning then her
forehead smoothed and she nodded. The facts&
The slow death roughly half a year from onset to ending. But the first month
was crucial if treatment began much later the result was at best a crippled
child, and at worst a human vegetable. Areyn! Perhaps a week into it, maybe
less but the antigen was only marginally effective if at all. Areyn was only
one of several in need of treatment from the scanty stock, though the others,
at least, were responding to the curative agent.
Convinced, Jay nodded. But another question "What happens if you slow the
life process? Drastically."
Farig looked puzzled; Setra wiped her eyes and answered. "It helps but not
enough. The death slows only about half as much as the child's own metabolism.
But ?"
Palm toward her, Jay signed for silence while he calculated. Then he nodded.
"Hypothermy's out we have neither the space nor facilities. With available
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drugs, what kind of ratio can you get?"
Setra Tuang's eyes widened. "Five or six, sometimes, with extreme
dosage four, easily. But you say,you don't have facilities. What? I mean,
your little ship can carry only two. And "
"Two adults, with a safety factor," Raelle said. She reached and squeezed
Jay's hand. "And we're not the largest people in Courier work, by any means.
If we don't have leeway for a three-year-old child! " And now Setra's smile
reflected Raelle's.
"A minute, here," said Mellieur. "One question. You're only a few days from
Earth, you've said. What need to drug Areyn?"
Jay shook his head. "A few days fromsome Earth. We told you high Skip
increases Drift, makes it more likely we'll find bigger differences. So we
can't go at top Skip. What's the point of taking Areyn to an Earth that's
never heard of the problem?"
At first Setra nodded then she sat bolt upright. "AnEarth? I'd forgotten if
Areyn goes with you, we'll never see her again!"
Mellieur grasped her hand. "Do you want the childhere , Setra or alive?"
Aimlessly her head moved from side to side. "Farig I don't know what to say.
What can we do? I "
Jay spoke. "Wait a minute there's another chance." Quickly he detailed
it Star Chaserwas nearly ready to leave. Departure might be accelerated; he,
Jay, would stay and help complete the work onThor's Thunder . Skipping at
ten-third,Chaser was nearly ten weeks from Earth but over this distance no
ship had ever drifted at Skip twelve hundred, and at that rate the time was
roughly eight weeks. By slowing the child's metabolism "Well, it's a gamble.
By your own figures, she'd be near the edge of the permanent-damage threshold.
But you could be sure of Areyn's reaching the same Earth, the same people,
that studied this problem,here. ;"
Tuang looked to Mellieur. "Farig?"
He shook his head. "Wecan't decide. Put the matter to Sualna and Tom she's
their child. But have them bring her here immediately."
And, Jay realized, there was more to it. "If she goes with us, now wecould
hit an Earth that doesn't know the situation at all. What data medical studies
and chemical formulations do you have? Besides the antigen itself, we'll need
copies of all that."
Tuang nodded. "Yes of course." Lack of knowledge, she explained, was not the
difficulty. Simply, the planet's medical people and their technicians were
only partway along the path of making the tools to make the tools that could
handle the necessary analyses and syntheses. "We knew it would take
time another year, maybe two-we counted on new supplies from Earth to tide us
over. But for Areyn, the time's run out." She stood. "I'll go call Tom and
Sualna. Probably they can't get all the data together this evening, but they
should be here sometime tomorrow." She left, and her walk showed some return
of grace and vigor. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]