The Alembic Plot Part 56

"Fine. Take as long as you want, maybe get a tour of the s.h.i.+p." She paused, thinking. "Yes . . . under the circ.u.mstances, I think I'd better change your primary duty." She turned to DeLayne. "Captain Odeon has been studying your Empire as well as possible from comm intercepts and what's left of our Founders' records. If you're willing to loan him books or have some of your people talk to him, I'd like to make those studies his top priority. He can then brief me on whatever he considers important."

DeLayne nodded. "Comm intercepts and fragmentary records won't give you very good information, especially since your Founders obviously weren't at all fond of the Empire--I'll be glad to help him learn as much as he wants." He turned to Odeon, grinning. "Come on, Captain--we'll go by Sickbay for the blood samples, then I'll give you a s.h.i.+p tour and introduce you to teaching tapes. Can you read Imperial English?"

Odeon looked up at the s.h.i.+p's name as he followed DeLayne up the gangplank, then shook his head ruefully. "If that's a sample, no--I can recognize most of the letters, but they don't make sense."

"Easy enough to remedy." DeLayne saluted the armed guard at the hatch.

"Permission to come aboard, sir? Myself and one of our hosts."

The woman returned his salute. "Granted, sir. Are you permitting him aboard armed?"

"Yes. And no one's to leave this estate--definitely not the compound--unarmed. I'll make that--"

"Captain?" Odeon interrupted.

"Yes?"

"If I were you, I'd have them armed any time they leave the s.h.i.+p. And I'd have Miss Conley sent one of those blasters as soon as possible."

DeLayne frowned. "The Brotherhood's that dangerous?"

"Probably not here at the Lodge, as Colonel Cortin said--but we don't know how they'll react to the Empire's presence, and I don't think we should take any chances."

"Neither do I. Okay, I'll make the announcement and put it in the standing orders." DeLayne turned to the guard. "No one's to leave the s.h.i.+p without a sidearm, Corporal; pa.s.s that on to your relief. I'll make the all-hands announcement as soon as I show Captain Odeon to Sickbay."

"Aye, sir."

Odeon wasn't sure what he'd expected the s.h.i.+p's interior to be like--similar to an airplane, maybe. Once they got past the airlock and a series of large lockers, though, what he saw could have been the inside of a large, modern building. If he hadn't just watched it land, he wouldn't have believed himself inside a vehicle. "Your guard's uniform was black--a Marine?"

"Right. SecuDiv--sorry, Security Division; I doubt you know our abbreviations--like all the ones a.s.signed to Columbus." DeLayne smiled at his guest. "I'd better warn you, Captain--my medical people will probably want more from you than a blood sample. I don't know how your people feel about doctors, but don't let Drulet intimidate you into more than you're comfortable with."

"I won't. I don't have anything against doctors; I owe my life to several of them." Odeon paused, thinking. Joanie was taking them into the Empire, which knew even less about the Kingdoms than the other way around, so-- "Since you've got to start learning about us, too, I'll go as far as a complete physical--provided it doesn't include the use of any drugs."

"It doesn't. He'll be delighted."

The examination didn't take as long as Odeon expected, less than three hours, but it was the most complete he'd ever had--and the least understandable. The doctor tried to explain, but Odeon didn't have the background to make sense out of body scans, biochemical and genetic a.n.a.lyses, or other procedures. After a bit he told the doctor so, to Drulet's amus.e.m.e.nt. "Okay, Captain, no more jargon. I'll wait till we're done and just give you the results, okay? If you want them."

"The results, sure, if you can keep them down to a layman's level. I'm not even trained in our medicine, and this--" Odeon gestured to the equipment around them, "is so far ahead of ours it isn't funny."

"I think I can manage that. Okay, nothing but chit-chat until we get to my office. Do you like coffee?"

"I'll drink it, but given a choice, I really prefer herb teas.

Something with a tang, like cranberry or ginger."

"I know just the thing." Drulet grinned. "I'll stick with coffee, and you can try Blue Ginger. That originated on Herbert's World--have you heard of it?"

"Afraid not."

Odeon sipped his tea, then nodded appreciatively. "This is good, Doctor. Okay, what's the verdict?"

"You're healthy as the proverbial horse, Captain. More injuries than I've seen on a single individual before, but no lasting damage--and contrary to what you told me about your medical history, you've never been sick a day in your life. No chickenpox or measles, no colds--and no satyr plague." He shook his head as Odeon started to object. "Oh, you're a carrier, all right; the pseudo-virus is in your body fluids.

It just isn't inside your cells."

"But I've got all the symptoms!"

"Yes, you told me--the diagnostic ones being the increased s.e.xual capacity and the penile moistening during arousal. The tests are conclusive, though; in your case those are genetic, not disease-caused."

Odeon frowned. "Then how come none of it showed up till the day after I had intercourse the first time? Because that's when the urge got strong and I started getting wet."

Drulet shrugged. "That question I can't answer; I don't know enough about the disease. Could be pure coincidence, or maybe the virus'

presence in your body pulled the genetic trigger, so to speak.

Possibly any physical stress or trauma could've set it off, once p.u.b.erty hit. But that's all guesswork."

"I understand." That part, anyway, Odeon thought. Why he'd have a genetic condition that mimicked the satyr plague was a whole 'nother question, and one he knew the doctor wouldn't be able to answer, so he dropped the subject. "Would you mind sending my commanding officer a copy of your report, so it can go in my medical records? I'm due my annual physical next month, but with this one so recent and so much more thorough, that can be waivered."

"Be glad to. If you don't mind, I'll forward a copy to Ranger Medart as well. His eyes only, of course."

Odeon didn't particularly like that idea, for no reason he could pinpoint--he'd taken the examination so Imperials could learn about Kingdoms people, after all--but he nodded. "I suppose so."

"In that case," DeLayne's voice broke in, behind Odeon, "you wouldn't mind if I also send him anything I learn from you."

"No--but he did say he wanted to get his data in person."

"What's the difference if I send him the s.h.i.+p's record tapes of our conversations, or he talks to you himself?"

Odeon frowned. "The s.h.i.+p tapes everything? You don't have any privacy?"

"Everything in the public areas, yes. Admiral Columbus, please tell Captain Odeon how you handle monitoring of private quarters."

"Yes, Captain," came from the air, startling Odeon. "I monitor those only for sounds of distress or people requesting my attention, and permanently tape only those situations; everything else is wiped automatically within approximately one microsecond."

"Your s.h.i.+p talks to you?"

DeLayne and Drulet both chuckled at Odeon's incredulity. "Yes, she does. All Imperial s.h.i.+ps of this cla.s.s or higher--which means all but couriers or landers--have AI-level s.h.i.+p-comps."

Odeon was silent for a moment, then he said, "Okay, I'll bite; what does that mean?"

"Sorry," DeLayne said. "That's a s.h.i.+p-wide computer complex enough to be cla.s.sified as an artificial intelligence. That means that if you didn't know you were talking to a computer, you'd think it was a very intelligent human. I gather you're not too familiar with computers?"

"That's one way to put it; I've never used one, and only seen a few.

None of those talked, and I never heard of any being intelligent!"

DeLayne chuckled. "Any time you want to talk to one, address her the way I did. She'll answer you, as long as you don't get into cla.s.sified information."

"That may take me a while to get used to. No offense intended, Admiral Columbus."