Aires's ears wiggled. “Noblest Sister, the mood against the Getesaph is so heated, our sisters would follow a thrown stone into battle.”
Praeis's ears crumbled, but her voice remained steady. “I will do as I am ordered, Majestic Sisters.”
“Good,” Vaier dipped her ears toward Praeis approvingly. “You will be officially summoned to duty this afternoon and moved to a headquarters. You will need to give thought to who you will want to pick as your Group Mothers.”
“Then I have much to do. With your permission.” Praeis lifted the palm of one hand, and Vaier dipped her ears again.
Praeis stood, still holding her daughter's hand. The daughter, obviously dazed by what had been said, stood with her.
“Whatever else comes of this, we will arrange that all your second-children be proudly fathered,” said Vaier. “Your daughters shall have that written in our names.”
“Thank you, Majestic Sister,” murmured Praeis. She closed her eyes and raised her free hand respectfully before she turned and walked in a measured step through the door.
“She'll do it,” said Aires like a sigh of relief once the door was firmly closed.
“Of course she will,” snorted Ueani. “Was she not just bribed and flattered like a father's family? What moved your will, Vaier?”
Vaier stood up and walked four swift paces to her lesser-named sister. She grasped Ueani's chin hard, as if she were a misbehaving child.
“At the moment this solitary nature serves us, but without a little kindness she might just turn against us.” She watched the ripples in Ueani's face as that thought sank in. “Unstable, abandoned by her family and by her Queens, who will she turn to? What will she do? Do you want to find out?”
“No, Sister,” muttered Ueani.
Vaier released her. “We are agreed in this, then.”
“Yes.” Aires stood up. “Now, let us cad our Wise Sisters back in. They will, I think, be pleased to hear what we have to say.”
David looked around the hospital room with a sense of relief and homecoming. It could not have been more different from the hell he'd left that morning. This was a large open area that smelled of fresh air. The openness was disconcerting for him, but more comfortable for the Dedelphi who had to stay there. At least a hundred beds waited in tidy rows. Each was enclosed in filter polymers that would let in light and air and let out sound and scent, but would trap any microbes in their carefully kinked and twisted pores.
The waldos and jobbers attached to each bed to take care of the patient's needs had soft, warm hands and arms. They were covered with matte organics that could be easily sterilized to ready the bed for a new occupant. There were even thin gloves built into the sides of the isolation boxes, so a sister or daughter could reach in and hold the patient's hand.
He set his portable down on one of the counters. We might actually be able to save a few people here, he thought.
He didn't actually come on duty until the main evacu… relocation started. Everybody else was, sensibly, relaxing in their new apartments. He had invitations for drinks and dinner he was really looking forward to. But first he had wanted to see the hospital. He wanted some reassurance that the cycle of anger and depression at the facilities he had to work with would be broken.
“Dr. David Zelotes?” called a voice from the other end of the room.
David turned and saw Captain Elisabeth Esmaraude standing in the hatchway. He recognized her easily from the landing ceremony when she'd stood up in front of them in the city and welcomed them all to the Ur. She'd sounded like a wind-up doll, and she seemed to know it, but she also seemed to be trying to bear it in good humor.
“Yes, Captain?” David walked toward her.
She looked him up and down through her old-fashioned spectacles. David wondered what she thought she'd see. “Have you got a minute?”
“Yes, certainly, Captain,” said David. “I was just looking around.” What's so important you had to come down here personally?
“Good. If you'll just come with me.” She stepped out into the corridor and led him to an unused conference room. His mind ran over possibilities. Maybe she wanted to discuss emergency procedures, or quarantine precautions, or the possibility of transmission from the sick to the healthy populations of the city-ship. Maybe it was about the possibility of viral infection among the Human crew.
Captain Esmaraude sat in one of the stiff chairs around the table and gestured for him to take the one next to her. He did.
“What can I help you with, Captain?” David folded his hands and tried to look ready for anything.
Captain Esmaraude looked at the floor. “I have just had a message from Commander Enrique Keale of Corporate Security.” She glanced up, and back down again. “Dr. Lynn Nussbaumer is missing.”