"I would complain of being bored," Cynthia remarked, leaning on the doorframe to Scotty's room, "except I remember that the solution for boredom in your family was chores."
"Not when I'm in charge," Scotty muttered, tossing his pad to the tabletop and rubbing his eyes. "Only problem is, I'm not usually in charge."
"Can I help?"
"Only if you've learned to read Praxatillian in the last few hours. And have some ideas about military galactic intelligence reports."
"No need to be snide. And don't rub your eyes like that. It's bad for them."
"Yes, Doctor."
"What did your Commander say?"
"The censored version: we have a better chance of being hit by lightning than finding them with the parameters we've got so far."
"We're in space. There's no lightning out here."
"Exactly."
"I see. Your Commander doesn't believe in dumb luck?"
"She does, she just thinks I've used up my lifetime ration of it."
Cynthia grinned despite herself. "I like her already." She took a seat, having made a circuit of the room and examined the various odds and ends that passed for décor. "I like your friend Aurora, too, by the way."
Scotty grinned back at her. "What's not to like?"
"She must drive Sabrina nuts."
"Why's that?" Scotty was taken aback.
"She's so unnaturally calm. It's like a statue of the Madonna came to life or something."
"Oh, that's just Miahns. They're all like that. Well, most of them. Okay, some of them. They live longer than we do so they take a longer view, Sabrina says. Problems don't seem that big a deal if you know you're going to be around in a century to fix them. She's got this big theory about species longevity and temperament. It's a crock of, uh, bull, but you know how she is when she gets an idea going."
"Well, I think Aurora must be good for you guys. Like pouring oil on water to calm the sea."
"You're only saying that because you haven't seen her with a blaster taking out the bad guys."
"Every man's fantasy. Well, it's reassuring to know that you are still, at heart, just an Earth boy."
"You been peeking at my medical records or something?"
"I was bored. I figured as the physician on board I should get up to speed. Khediva wouldn't let me near Tirqwin's data, or Aurora's for that matter, but she said I might understand things about your physiology that she was unsure about."
"And?"
"Between the two of us, we're doubly clueless about this hybrid version of you. Sabrina's records look pretty normal, though she's apparently suffered some cellular damage over the years. It's minor, but fascinating."
"Earth's first xenobiologist," Scotty said. "Too bad you can't write a book about us. You'd win the Nobel Prize, if they didn't lock you up in a padded room first."
"Or let the Air Force disappear me. No thanks. I never wanted to be famous, just rich."
"Can't help you with that, sorry." Scotty rubbed at his forehead.
"What's the matter?"
"Headache. No big deal."
"Let me know if it gets worse. If Khediva's infirmary doesn't stoop to aspirin, I'm sure she's got the instructions for a brain transplant around here somewhere."
"Ha, ha. Been there, done that. Geez." He grimaced.
"Not just eyestrain, I take it? Or the burden of keeping up with my rapier wit?"
"It's like an icepick through the top of my head."
"Do Wayfarers get migraines?"
Khediva broke in. "They do not. Scotty should not either. He has never had any symptoms before that I know of."
"Stroke?" Cynthia wondered. "You're awfully young for that, but it's not impossible."
"His blood pressure is not significantly elevated," Khediva said.
"I feel like Dr. Crusher," Cynthia sighed. "C'mon, Scotty. Make me feel useful and let me examine you in the infirmary."
"It's just a headache!" Scotty said irritably. "Just stop talking and turn out the lights. I'll be fine."
"Okay." Cynthia got up and headed for the door. "You let me know when your sense of self-preservation gets the better of your machismo."
"I would not depend on that," Khediva remarked.
"Ha ha. Both of you shut up and leave me alone!" Scotty demanded, stumbling over to his bed.
Cynthia went out to the control deck, where Aurora and Tirqwin were intent on a huge galactic map on the wallscreen. "From what Scotty says, you might as well play eenie, meenie, minee, mo."
Tirqwin cut off Aurora's attempt to speak. "A primitive illustration of random chance, and not a very good one at that."
"Aren't we all in a fine mood. I'm tempted to start spiking everybody's food with Prozac."
"Flippancy will not help the situation," Tirqwin informed her.
"Especially since Scotty doesn't like to be upstaged," Aurora said, smiling at Cynthia. "How are you settling in?"
"If I say I'm bored, will you make me swab the deck?"
Tirqwin said, "I used to keep Scotty out of trouble by assigning him complicated temporal equations."
"Ouch. Okay, then, I'm not bored. I'm merely observing my first aliens in their native environment."
"It's not my native environment," Aurora said. "Not even close. I am actually here to spy on them and make sure they don't do anything against my government's best interests."
Tirqwin grimaced at Cynthia's inquiring look. "You see why her people think Sabrina is the ideal diplomat. Miahns are painfully inept at both sarcasm and flippancy."
"I did not expect you to harbor any illusions as to my assignment," Aurora said. "Since Scotty accused me of spying on him, I naturally assumed you shared his interpretation."
"Please do not assume our thought processes are that similar," Tirqwin said. He rubbed at his face. "This is getting us nowhere. We have to have some more information. This is like trying to draw a cube with only two points."
There was a defeated silence in the room, broken suddenly by a shriek from the living quarters. Khediva shouted, "Scotty is seizing!"
Tirqwin reached Scotty's bedside first, and Cynthia had to duck under his arm to reach the bed. She grabbed one of Scotty's flailing arms and scrambled to catch his chin, noting his clammy skin and racing pulse automatically.
"The infirmary," Tirqwin said, lifting Scotty up as Cynthia moved out of his way.
Aurora met them in the infirmary with a tray of medications. "These are what Khediva thinks will probably be most useful, but we'll need to scan his brain activity first." Her hands shook slightly as she helped Tirqwin arrange Scotty on the bed.
Khediva said, "His brain is definitely overactive. I'm sensing some crystal dissonance as well."
"He is under attack?" Tirqwin frowned.
"I do not think so," Khediva replied. "At least, not by anyone who knows what they are doing."
"We need to get his neural activity calmed down," Cynthia said, "or he's going to stroke out. His heart can't keep this pace up!"
"It is definitely an external problem," Khediva said. "I do not know how to combat it."
"Could I bleed off some of it if I linked with him?" Aurora asked.
They all looked blankly at each other. "We have to do something!" Cynthia demanded. "Maybe if we induce coma—"
"Let me try first!" Aurora said. She placed her hands on Scotty's face and concentrated hard. After a few moments, Scotty went alarmingly still. The monitors paused, then came back to life at a less frenzied pace.
"That's done it—" Cynthia began, only to stop short in horror as Aurora gave a piercing scream. The Miahn stumbled back from the bed, covering her face with her hands, and crumpled to a ball on the floor, sobbing hysterically. Scotty's vital signs began climbing again.
"Coma! Now!" Cynthia cried. "Khediva, what can I give him?"
Khediva began firing instructions at Cynthia as Tirqwin rounded the bed and approached Aurora. He took her hands gently and tried in vain to pull them from her face. "What is it? You are safe, Aurora. What is wrong?"
"M-my f-father. They killed him!" she gasped out.
"Aurora, your father is alive and well on Praxatillus," Tirqwin said.
"They killed him!" she wailed.
The infirmary was suddenly quiet as Scotty's monitors reached a normal level. Cynthia braced herself against the bed and drew deep breaths. "That was close," she said after a minute. "Are you guys okay?"
Tirqwin stood, leaving Aurora to hug and rock herself on the floor. "Khediva, contact Praxatillus. Find out if her father is all right. Get him onscreen so she can see him."
"What was that?" Cynthia demanded. "If it's just her father, why did it hit Scotty? She wasn't affected until she touched him. Could it be some kind of contagion?"
"I do not know," Tirqwin said irritably. "You keep Scotty alive. Let me deal with the rest of it."
When he had gone, Cynthia said, "Khediva? Should I sedate her?"
"Not yet," Khediva said. "Praxatillus Control is not on alert, nor are they aware of any bad news concerning Leran nar Daroun. They are inquiring. If he can speak to her, that may suffice to bring her to her senses."
Cynthia looked around and grimaced. "Just what we needed. More unanswered questions."