Freedom's Challenge by Anne McCaffrey Read Free Book Online Page B

reading,” Marjorie said.
    â€œWhy, thank you, Marjorie.”
    â€œYou know you don’t have to be so formal, Kris. I don’t mind if you call me Marge like everyone else.”
    Then she grimaced, looking down at the table and, with furtive glances, gradually looked around the room. Peggy, however, held up her cup for more tea, which Kris instantly supplied.
    â€œSome of your friends aren’t here with you, Marge,” Kris said, thinking some explanation should be offered before Marjorie’s returning awareness caused her dismay.
    â€œThey aren’t?”
    â€œMore tea?” Kris offered and Marge shook her head.
    â€œDoesn’t really taste like tea to me.”
    â€œIt’s part of the bland diet to reduce the dose of toxicity you had,” Kris said.
    â€œBut you’re drinking it, too. Did you get a dose?”
    â€œNo,” Kris replied, “but we aides thought it wasn’t fair for us to drink something you aren’t yet allowed.”
    â€œOh!” Marge accepted that.
    Kris tried not to wonder what else would happen today or who would have a breakthrough but the rest of her eight-hour shift went without any further incident, other than Marge making comments about beautiful scenery and the lovely fresh air. Peggy said nothing more and seemed to be deep in her own thoughts. And Kris certainly hoped she was having some. She got her two charges back for their afternoon nap and, for once, they lay down in their beds immediately and were asleep in moments.
    Mavis beckoned her into the nurse’s office.
    â€œThat Miss Barrow’s a pisswhistler,” she murmured in rather unprofessional language. “And that’s exactly what brought her around.”
    â€œHow so?”
    â€œShe ran a huge lab for Erkind Pharmaceuticals and everything, but everything had to be precisely in place and exactly done.”
    â€œOh! And suddenly her neurones meshed and nothing here was as it should be in her neat little mind?”
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œHas she realized where she is now?”
    Mavis cocked her. “She’s fighting it but with every twitch of disagreement, she’s remembering more. She’s more than halfway back to sanity.”
    Kris grimaced. “If precision and order are her sort of sanity, she could be a real pain in the arse.”
    Mavis shook her head this time. “No, we’ll let her manage our lab when she’s fully recovered. It’ll be the envy of…” Then Mavis giggled. “We couldn’t actually ask for someone with a better background.”
    Kris thought of Leon Dane, of Thor Mayock’s hooch, and the easy, if effective, way the hospital facilities had been run, and wondered.
    â€œYou’ll see,” Mavis said. “How’re the other two?”
    â€œSome speech from Marge…she prefers that…and one sentence from Peggy but that one’s been thinking hard all day long.”
    â€œGood,” and Mavis made notes on the day pad. “We’ll see if we can improve on your start. You’re mid-shift tomorrow?”
    Kris nodded and then another group returned to the dormitory and Mavis went to help settle them for their rest.
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    ON HER WAY TO COLLECT ZANE, SHE WONDERED just how the prim and proper Miss Barrow would view the Deski and Rugarians with whom they shared the planet. And how she could react to Zainal’s presence when she saw him. Once the Victims started being people again, they would have to see, and become accustomed to, the one Catteni since he was the one who had organized their rescue.
    Zane was having a late nap and Kris looked rather enviously at all the small bodies, all curled up under their blankets on the mats that had been woven for the purpose.
    â€œGo grab some zzz’s yourself,” murmured Sheila, who was in charge. She was also working on a detailed map of the eastern coast of this