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are familiar with the procedures of triage? Producing a treatment hierarchy when medical resources are overmatched by medical emergencies?”
    “Of course. If you know what triage is, you know that under triage procedure, the most severe cases receive immediate care while the less critical patients wait. The strong help carry the weak. Such a system has always been in place in Ship and it has worked. I see no reason to abandon it once we begin planetfall.” There! Jene smiled at him smugly. Let him chew on that.
    “Yes, yes. Your description of triage is accurate, as far as it goes. But tell me this, Doctor—is it not true that in following triage procedure, the terminal cases are abandoned so as not to waste resources that might be going to patients who have a chance at survival?”
    Jene’s smile faded. He had trumped her.
    He continued. “I agree with your description of Ship’s history. We have until now existed in a communal socialism that has worked well.” There was something in his voice, Jene noted, that hinted at bitterness. Arnson swept on. “But we are fast approaching a crisis the likes of which we have not seen in the entire history of Ship. It will be two years before Ship is completely stripped and shuttled to the surface. In those two years, resources planetside will be extremely thin.”
    “We can’t just let them die,” Jene whispered, anticipating his conclusion.
    “The strong must carry the weak, Doctor, but should they also carry the dying?”
    Jene had no answer for that. She had been manipulated adroitly by the Councilman, and although she knew, at a level deeper than logic, that she was right, she could not match his rhetoric. She simply looked at him, then at the other Councilmembers. Her eye rested briefly on the sole woman among the five-member council, Luise Ryu.
    “We want you on our side, Doctor,” Ryu said, breaking the silence.
    “Your side?” Jene scowled at her.
    “Councilwoman Ryu tends to see things in terms of us and them,” Arnson said, flashing a wolfish smile at Ryu. “She means that we are quickly approaching a pivotal moment in our mission, and Ship will no doubt be spilt between those who see what must regrettably be done and those whose reason is clouded with emotion. At the moment, Doctor, I must say that you belong to the latter category. It is my hope, indeed, the hope of the entire Council, that you see that we are right.” He pushed off the wall and floated slowly towards her. “Doctor, we are not animals. We do not wish to see any of our children hurt or deprived. But we cannot continue our present policy of total care for all. Surely, you must see that.”
    Jene kept her voice under control. “All I see is that you are willing to sacrifice human lives for the sake of other human lives.”
    Arnson blinked. “Yes. Rather than lose the entire colony, I would. Wouldn’t you?”
    “I would not.”
    “You would rather all of us die than some of us?”
    “I would rather die than make the decision of who will live and who will not.”
    Arnson stared at her. “I deeply regret this, Doctor. You realize that the Council will, despite your opposition, attempt to convince Ship of our position?”
    “And I will stop you.”
    Arnson nodded. “Such is your right to try. I suppose you may go.” He swam away from her and indicated the portal.
    Jene made her way awkwardly to the door, but before she exited, Arnson called after her.
    “Doctor, one last question.”
    She turned.
    “What if the choice was between saving a Class D and saving your daughter?”
    Jene swallowed with a dry throat. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She could not answer.
    Arnson raised his eyebrows. “I see. Goodbye, Doctor.”
    Jene left the chamber, worried for Ship, its future, and, inexplicably, for her own family.
     

 
     
     
Chapter 3
     
     
     
    “The question was not intended to be a rational one, dear. It was purely a rhetorical device designed to