Change Horizons: Three Novellas Read Online Free PDF Page A

the small of Gemma’s back. “She needs to know we have Ilias’s condition under control.”
    “How did you make it back so fast?” Gemma asked as they walked toward the smaller waiting area just outside. “I just saw you going off to the uprooted plants with an axe and with some of the refugees.”
    “I told them what I needed from the plants and put them to work.” Ciel shook her head. “In this case, it makes so much difference for Ilias that we have things like ventilators. Had I seen him a few days ago, my herbs could have been enough, but he was too far gone. His lungs are inflamed, most likely.”
    “How did you know?” Gemma hadn’t told anyone yet what her scanner had recorded.
    “His pallor, his scent, and the general symptoms.” Ciel sat down next to Tammas and took her hand. “Ilias is alive and we put him on a ventilator to conserve his energy. He needs fluids, perhaps some synthetic blood, and most of all rest.”
    “He’s…he’s breathing?” Tammas looked up at Gemma and then back at Ciel, crystal-clear blue tears streaming down her face. “I thought he’d died.”
    “It was close. He’ll need supervision for a long time. Right now he needs his mother close too. We’ll arrange for a cot and a chair next to his bed. You need to get checked out too eventually.”
    “Not necessary. I’m fine.” Tammas contradicted herself by nearly falling as she stood. Gemma and Ciel supported her as they walked her back into the room. The sight of her child all but covered by SC technology was nearly too much for Tammas. “Oh, no. He looks so small, so fragile with that thing on him.”
    “That thing is helping him breathe and saturates his blood.” Gemma patted Tammas’s hand. “Now, sit here on this chair and we’ll have some of the staff bring you a cot.”
    “I’ll be here with you and your baby for now,” the young nurse said reassuringly. “You can hold his hand, if you like. He will feel your presence and it will help him recover.”
    “I’d like that.” Tammas climbed onto the tall stool next to the bed. She carefully took his hand. “Thank you,” she said, without looking at them.
    “You’re welcome.” Gemma nudged Ciel and motioned toward the corridor. “We have more work to do.”
    “And I’ll go find where my assistants have put the bushes. They were going to start a fire outside.”
    “A fire?” Gemma frowned. “Whatever for?”
    “A woman from town had one of the huge pots I need.”
    “Gods, are we back in the Stone Age? We have the hospital kitchen and a large laboratory if you need to brew something.” She glared impatiently at the serenely smiling Ciel.
    “No, that won’t do. The amount we need for this many people requires a much bigger burner than any modern kitchen, or lab, can provide.”
    “You’re kidding.” Gemma exhaled impatiently. Did Ciel have to make everything so difficult just to prove a point? She shook her head in dismay and hurried toward the triage area. She was relieved to see the marines, all of them with medical backgrounds as well, per her request, helping the Gantharian physicians organize it.
    “Dr. Meyer, ma’am.” Her sergeant approached her. “We need you over here. Male, 102, dehydrated and with multiple health issues…” He continued to describe the man’s condition as they walked over to a makeshift trauma and emergency center. Gemma looked over her shoulder before she began examining the emaciated man on the gurney. Ciel was over to the side, and next to her two men were erecting some sort of rack. Movement farther to the right made her mouth fall open. That had to be the biggest cast-iron pot she’d ever seen. She had to grudgingly concede that they couldn’t possibly have handled that in the kitchen or the lab, simply because they wouldn’t have been able to get it through the door.
    Gemma turned around and gazed down at her patient. He met her eyes and spoke the language of his home world in a very faint