Endurance by Richard Chizmar Read Free Book Online

blank look, he typed it out on a data pad and switched it to display in Terran.
    Vlaav Irde
, I read. “Fourth-year intern?” He nodded. So this was the idiot prescribing overdoses. I toyed with the idea of laying into him over that, but Malgat was really at fault. “Right. So what do you want?”
    Vlaav the intern went on to tell me he was a Saksonan, the senior intern onboard ship, and then promptly tried to pull rank on me. “I’m primary for this shift, you know. May I see Colonel Shropana’s chart?”
    An intern as primary. Mother of All Houses. “No.” I was tired and, now knowing who I was in charge of, not inclined toward tact. “Go away.”
    Saksonans, I would learn, had easily bruised egos. “I was just reviewing cases histories, and a thought crossed my mind—”
    “Must have been a long and lonely journey. Get lost.”
    Blood pooled under his derma, making the countless bumps swell. “I don’t see why you—”
    “That’s why I’m the MD and you’re the intern,” I said. “Take a stroll. Come back when you make resident. And keep your hands off the syrinpresses.”
    Dr. Malgat appeared once early in the shift, for a few moments. I got an evil look, but my predecessor wisely kept his distance. I watched as he performed rounds so fast he barely touched each patient’s chart. On his way out of Medical, Malgat ignored inquiries from two nurses and an anxious patient calling after him.
    I made a note to request Dr. Speedy be transferred to waste management, then went back to reworking the shift schedules.
    Things got interesting sometime later, when a Hsktskt guard detachment stomped through the entrance panel. Six of them, all carrying activated weapons. A couple hissed at the nurses as they headed for the center of the bay.
    I assumed they weren’t here to visit a relative.
    The group was lead by the biggest female Hsktskt I’d ever seen. Taller and bulkier than her male counterparts, she commanded instant attention. And fear. Something else seemed strange about her. When her massive head swung toward me, I saw exactly what it was.
    Her
face
.
    The sight would have made the most ambitious reconstructive surgeon weep with despair. A wide, twisted band of fresh scar tissue ran a jaggedpath from the top of her head down one side to disappear beneath the neck of her uniform. The wound went so deep that there appeared to be extensive skull distortion.
    What had been used on her? A blunt axe? And how had she survived a wound that had torn through scales, muscles, bone, and most assuredly the frontal lobe of her brain? Next thing I knew, she was standing over me and had her weapon in
my
face.
    Maybe I was going to find out. Personally.
    “Hi.” I blandly looked along the barrel of the pulse rifle. After enough times, I thought, you sort of got used to it. “May I help you?”
    A black tongue lashed out—but half of it was gone. Amputated? “You are called SsurreVa?”
    “By OverLord TssVar, yes.” It couldn’t hurt to mention his name, in a “we’re old pals” kind of way.
    That didn’t awe her. “Five captives are not accounted for. You are hiding them here.”
    Uh-oh. Helen of Troy here was on a mission. Apparently I was
The One to Be Held Responsible
. As usual.
    “I am not hiding anyone, OverSeer,” I said, careful to use her rank. By now I had memorized Hsktskt uniform insignia, and displaying respect toward hers seemed prudent. “The only personnel here are staff assigned to this section, or patients who have been accounted for.”
    “If I find them, you die.”
    Not exactly fair, but completely straightforward.
    She turned her mangled head and barked out a series of orders. The Hsktskts detachment fanned out and extensively searched the Medical wards, treatment rooms, and clinical services. That meant patients as well as equipment were tossed around. Nurses fled shrieking to cluster in terrified huddles. Diagnostic consoles were torn apart.
    I followed after them, picked up