Shadows In Still Water Read Free Page B

be heard half way to the corridor outside. The under current of noise in the conference hall paused for a moment then continued a little louder than before. A quick glance to her left told her Jak Rialus had heard the insult. She could tell by the set of his two, straight, flexible antennae. Jak had a mix of three-quarters Kaprinian, one-quarter human blood thanks to his paternal grandmother. His humanness showed only in his curly brown hair and more muscular build. Jak was certainly no more outside the bounds of Kaprinian normalcy than the stranger himself.
    “Hold your hand still, please,” Millie said.
    The chemical inside the patch should have entered the bloodstream by now. It would attach itself to the enzyme particular to raphrydia if the disease was present. Millie passed the scanner over the stranger’s wrist, watching the readout. After five seconds, the scanner beeped, having detected no raphrydia.
    “You’re clear,” she told him. Stripping off the patch, she disposed of it in the waste unit next to the table, slid his PEF card through the scanner and handed it back to him. “Take your card to one of the computers at the side door to finish registration. There are certain areas of the station that have been restricted. Warning signs are posted. Thank you for your cooperation.” She made an effort to smile.
    The Kaprinian smiled back, a nice one this time. It made him look younger and less strange. Millie decided she must be tired, letting him get on her nerves like that. She watched him to the door then looked over at Dr. Rialus. “I’m taking a break, Jak,” she told him.
    Jak nodded. His antennae had relaxed.
    Hooking the scanner in its place on her utility belt, Millie made for the far corner of the conference hall, following the sweet smell of kanic coming from the dispenser. Several other nurses and lab technicians were gathered around the kanic table, drinking the hot, yellow liquid and talking.
    Rob Keller, head lab tech, leaned his tall, broad-shouldered frame against the wall, his long, curly blonde hair pulled into a tangled ponytail. GEM Co. regulations required it much shorter but Keller was something of a maverick. Dr. Aurelia, who had a thing about hair herself, didn’t care as long as he did his work. He did straighten up when he saw Millie approaching.
    “Oh, oh,” he said, “here comes the boss.” He tossed her a disposable cup. “Gonna make us go back to work?”
    Filling the cup from the dispenser, Millie blew on the kanic, feeling the heat warm her fingers through the thick polyfibers. She took a large swallow before answering, “You’ve been here long enough to drink a couple of gallons at least, Rob. Now why would I even be thinking of sending you back?” She deliberately raised an eyebrow at him.
    “Oooh, look out, told you she had eyes in the back of her head,” called one of the nurses.
    Laughing at the serious expression on Keller’s face, Millie patted his hand. “I’m just kidding, Rob. I know it’s been a long night.”
    "Why can't we get like five big scanners on the Pasteur and just scan the whole station at once?"Rob complained.
    "They actually talked about that a few years ago but decided it wasn't profitable." Millie fanned her face wondering why she was drinking hot kanic in the close atmosphere. “It’s stifling in here. Can’t we get the air filters working?”
    “They are working,” Rob replied.
    “Too many bodies in here,” said Janel Frison, one of the orderlies.
    “I think they’re multiplying out in the halls. Spontaneous generation,” offered head resident doctor, Sshn’LRuh, waving a tentacle in front of the pink blob that passed for her face. A native of Gidellia, she resembled an Earth octopus. She moved around in a motorized environmental control tank that kept the main portion of her body in warm saltwater, only needing to submerge her head and tentacles for brief periods. Speaking through a computer control box, LRuh had adapted