Plague of Memory by S. L. Viehl Read Free Book Online

console, downloaded several files, extracted a disk, and handed it to me. "This contains all the data you need on Terran sexuality. Study it, and then ask Reever whatever questions you have that it does not answer."
    He behaved as though shy and confused and embarrassed, as a girl coming into her bleeding time would. Perhaps it was something inherent to his species.
    "I thank you." I took the disk and tucked it into my tunic pocket. "Dapvea's stumps should be ready for fitting preparations in five to seven days. Shall I have the lab begin manufacturing the necessary components?"
    "We will see what his state of mind is next week," Squilyp said, his disapproval quite visible now. "I don't want him discouraged."
    "It is discouraging to lie in that berth and stare at the upper deck all day and night." I switched off the chart. "We should encourage him toward recovery, not shield him from it."
    "That is a militant attitude, Doctor." The Senior Healer made a sniffing sound. "Our patients are not soldiers being sent back to battle."
    "This is battle; a very personal one. Every day Dapvea will fight enemies he has never before faced: pain and physical limitation." I placed the chart on the Senior Healer's desk. "Sympathy cannot help him with these things. If that is all we offer him, he will lose heart again. I do not think we can shame him out of a second decision to end his life."
    Squilyp's gildrells became spokes, but he kept whatever he was feeling out of his voice. "We will discuss this again another time. Good night, Doctor."
    I went to the lift that would take me to Reever's quarters, nodding to crew members who greeted me as we passed each other. Everyone had to say something to me; one could not traverse a meter of space on this ship without someone offering some form of useless greeting.
    Today I felt tempted to linger and speak with them.
    For the first time since I had left Akkabarr, I did not look forward to returning to my husband's quarters. What had been said between us on the observation deck had left me feeling unsettled. Reever did not behave like an Iisleg male. Sometimes he reminded me of Teulon, especially when he didn't talk, for they shared that eerie ability for absolute stillness and silence. Yet when he did speak, Reever confused me. His continuing refusal to relieve his needs with me only made matters more puzzling.
    Why had he insisted on taking me to wife if he had no desire to use me as one?
    "Healer?"
    I looked up into a scarred Terran male face and saw my reflection in his mild brown eyes. It was the one with wings .. . Hawk, they called him.
    Beside him stood what appeared to be a larger version of Reever's small feline. This beast walked upright, as a person would. It, too, only had four limbs, which seemed abnormal to me, as the jlorra, the only feline species on Akkabarr, had six. The feline's scrawny body did not appear to be the result of abuse or starvation; its musculature looked normal for its lean body frame and its pelt had a healthy sleekness. That its fur was the color of shadows on ice and its eyes had no color at all was also no indication that it was ill-treated.
    Perhaps it was, like Reever's beasts, a domesticated companion. It did not wear a collar, but the Terran had dressed it in a strappy, gem-studded garment. "Yes?"
    "You are standing in front of an open lift," Hawk said, gesturing behind me. As he spoke, the dark-feathered wings growing from his upper back spread slightly.
    I felt embarrassed to be found idle and lost in thought when I could have been working. "I think I will walk instead." I moved to walk around him.
    "Is the lift malfunctioning?" the feline said to me in a perfectly articulate voice. "Should I signal... ?"
    I backed away from it so quickly that my shoulder blades slammed into a corridor panel. I had never heard an animal speak.
    Hawk looked at the freakish thing. "She does not remember you." To me, he said, "Healer, this is Alunthri, from planet