The compleat collected s.., p.573
The COMPLEAT Collected SFF Works, page 573
"And then?" asked Matlock.
Sister Augustine said quietly, "I went with sister to the cold store, bringing an electric torch, and quickly established that the creature was injured, fully conscious, intelligent, had a strong aversion to the heat of a candle flame but not the light from my torch, and that it had not originated on Earth. We treated the injuries, which were mostly superficial, and Sister Constance gave it a selection of food to—"
"Really, Sister, this is utterly ridiculous!" the psychologist opposite her broke in. A camera swung to cover him and the monitor briefly displayed his angry expression above a caption saying that he was Doctor Kenneth Watterson, a lecturer in psychology at the university, before dissolving into the still picture she had taken of the bandaged alien. He went on, "are you telling us that you saw, quickly identified and treated the injuries of a hitherto unknown form of life, just like that? Look at it, for pity's sake. It looks like an over-bandaged volunteer casualty of a first aid demonstration! Sister, that was thoughtless, even stupid in the circumstances. You could have been, you may still be, responsible for killing it. You had no right to act in such an irresponsible fashion. You aren't qualified in this area."
"Are you?" asked Sister Augustine quietly.
The psychologist shook his head impatiently. "I am also a doctor of medicine, and what worries me is that food was given to a being without any regard to possible toxic effects on its metabolism, or for the possibility of a two-way passage of mutually harmful pathogens for which neither the creature nor those, er, tending it have any immunity. Acting as she did was, was certainly beyond the level of competence of a simple convent cook!"
"You are assuming, Doctor," said Sister Augustine sharply, "that because Sister Constance is very large that she is also very stupid. That is not so. She is the cook until this weekend, when another sister will take over the duty. She likes cooking, is good at it, and the others prefer her cooking with the result that she is often prevailed upon to cook more often than the duty roster requires—"
"With respect, Sister," Matlock broke in, "we aren't terribly interested in your catering arrangements."
"... But her reason for being here," Sister Augustine went on, ignoring the interruption, "is to complete her thesis for an MSc that will improve her chances of being appointed principal of the Dominican College in the city when the present incumbent retires next year. The degree doesn't qualify her to act in this situation, it is her simple common sense that has done that."
Captain McCloskey was rubbing the side of his face, with the hand concealing his lips. The features of Watterson remained stiff with anger.
"Then please tell us, Sister," said Matlock, "what exactly you did to this creature?''
"On the subject of my own qualifications," Sister Augustine went on firmly, temporarily ignoring the question, "I belong to an order of missionary sisters who are required to take advanced nursing training, and in this capacity I have worked in Africa for nearly twenty years. At the risk of being thought boastful, I have learned enough about the human anatomy to know with certainty when a being isn't human, and have accumulated enough practical experience in the treatment of the sick and injured, often in isolated areas where the indicated medication is limited or non-existent, to at least try to help a case where our human medication was inapplicable and perhaps lethal to the patient's non-human metabolism."
The monitor was showing her color photograph again as she went on quickly to describe how Sister Constance and herself had communicated with the creature by doing a number of simple sums of addition on their fingers, and their wonderment when the creature demonstrated its possession of intelligence by responding at once, even though the arm injuries must have made it painful to do so. Then she described the first physical contact while she had been examining one of its wounds.
"The creature seemed very reluctant to let me touch it, at first," she continued, pointing towards the picture on the monitor. "To understand why, I will have to describe its condition as we first saw it ..."
The creature had been curled up behind a large, dilapidated divan. It was large, measuring about eight feet from its heavy, blunt head to the tip of its armored tail, and slightly resembled a black alligator with iridescent scales. It had three pairs of limbs. The pair mounted below the base of the neck were thinner than the others and terminated in six digits that had far too many joints, and the remaining four, which supported the lower body, were shorter and thicker and ended as flat, round feet with long, webbed toes.
The creature's eyes, three of them, were very large, recessed and protected by bony ridges and spaced equally around the head. Its other facial features were a wide mouth with very large teeth, which appeared at first to be stained with blood but on closer examination turned out to be painted in different colors, and a number of orifices surrounded by wrinkles and folds of skin which were thought to be ears or nostrils. There were two long, vertical flaps of skin, from which came the bubbling sounds, situated midway along the thick, tapering neck.
The body was marked in several places, particularly at the limb joints and other areas where the bones came closest to the skin, by lines and patches of red and brown characteristic of the fresh and dried bloodstains usually associated with incised and abraded wounds.
"... When the torch was brought closer to inspect one of the larger incisions," Sister Augustine continued, "the creature didn't move at first, then suddenly it swung its tail at me."
The recollection made her pause for a moment, then she went on, "That tail, which you can see is curved backwards and lying along its spine, is long and thick and terminates in a flat, bony plate that has very sharp edges, and must be its principal natural weapon. The creature swung it at me, but checked the movement when the edge of the bony blade was a few inches from my face."
"Weren't you afraid?" asked Matlock.
Sister Augustine paused just long enough to indicate that it had been an unnecessary question, then went on. "When I approached it a second time, it remained passive and allowed me to touch the wound. It seemed clear to me that its earlier action had been meant to warn me to be careful, or at least gentle, during treatment. I think it communicated the idea very well."
She smiled at the presenter and went on, "We couldn't risk using any of the dressings or antibiotics from our medicine chest, for the reasons Doctor Watterson and I have already explained, so that the only safe treatment was irrigation of the wounds with water. In Africa we would have had to boil it first, but the supply here is natural spring water and, in any case, from the condition of the cellar floor, it looked as though it had been in the sea for a lengthy period without apparent ill effects. The cleaning was necessary because its wounds had almost certainly been sustained by contact with the rocks below us, and it had subsequently crawled to the cellar. The incised wounds were cleaned, without using any possibly toxic soap, and the edges held together with folded pads made from bed-linen and firm bandages to aid healing. The abrasions were left uncovered because the blood in these areas was already beginning to congeal and form scabs. We made it as comfortable as possible on the old divan which, as you can see, was first covered with white sheets so that dust from the upholstery would be less likely to find its way onto the uncovered abrasions. Behind the divan we placed a covered receptacle to receive body wastes ..."
Doctor Watterson opened his mouth to speak and she went on quickly, "Naturally, the disposal of these wastes caused me some concern. The creature, who wore no protective clothing or, indeed, clothing of any kind, did not act as if it was worried about catching anything from us during physical contact, so I took comfort in the thought that the opposite was also true. But on Earth body wastes are a major source of infection, so we decided that the material should be buried, for safety as well as retaining it for possible future analysis, rather than risk spreading any possible infection by flushing it away in the usual fashion. The quantity so far has not been large, but the fact that our food is being metabolized is reassuring."
Watterson's manner was much less hostile as he said, "I think you acted sensibly in what was a most unusual medical situation, but allowing your cook to give it Earth food ... That was not the time for offering simple, thoughtless hospitality, no matter how well meant. You could have killed it, Sister. You might still do so if there are cumulative toxic effects."
"It was neither simple nor thoughtless, Doctor," said Sister Constance in an irritated growl. "That picture shows the creature lying on its divan, so you can only see the edge of the coffee table in front of it. Sister Augustine and I put a lot of careful thought into the selection and preparation of that food."
Watterson looked skeptical but remained silent. Matlock said, "Don't keep us in suspense, Sister."
Once again Sister Constance exhaled through her nose, then said, "We decided that, even though the creature breathed our air and had red blood, its dietary requirements would certainly be different to ours, but that it would need food and water to aid its recovery. We decided that the only course was to offer it a choice of food and trust that its sense of taste and smell would enable it to select for itself items that were harmless, or least harmful. We already knew that it was unafraid of light but had a very strong aversion to the heat from a candle flame, so anything like a hot meal was out."
She smiled suddenly and went on, "The menu offered comprised a selection of raw and very thoroughly washed vegetables, cut up into pieces convenient for eating and with a single, whole vegetable on each plate to give the creature a clearer idea of what was being offered. There were also plates containing slices of meat, whole-meal bread, dry, uncooked and unmilkcd cereals, and small glass jugs of water and milk.
Sister Augustine suggested that, the creature being an amphibian, it might like to eat fish. We tried it with some sardines, but washed them thoroughly so as to remove the tomato sauce and additives which might have confused its taste buds. The food was displayed on a long, low coffee table, also covered with a white sheet, within easy reach. We placed spoons or forks beside each dish, but no knives."
"With what result?" Doctor Watterson asked quickly, curiosity overcoming his earlier hostility.
"It didn't take any of the raw vegetables," replied Sister Constance, "or the milk or meat, but small amounts of whole-meal bread and the fish were acceptable. It ignored all of the cereals except for the bowl of oatmeal, which it emptied completely. It drank all the water, probably to help it wash down the dry oatmeal, which is why we've started cooking it and serving it cold to make it more palatable. We try it with other items, and any dish that is untouched for a full day is withdrawn, so it is dictating its own diet and eating, although perhaps not enjoying, our food. Most of the bandages have been removed, the wounds are dry and healing nicely, and it is able to move freely about the cellars.
"But sardines and cold porridge," she ended in an aggrieved tone. "That certainly isn't the kind of fare we normally offer visitors."
Matlock allowed himself the thinnest of smiles, but before he could speak Sister Augustine said, "Between the times of checking on its wounds and replenishing the preferred food, and during the night, of course, we leave the visitor unattended. Although all of the sisters have seen it by now, most of them are still a little nervous in its company. To give it something to think about, apart from its wounds and its future, and in the hope of improving communications beyond the present level of sign language and felt pen sketches, I moved in my portable TV. It is connected to the convent's power with the extension cable from our electric lawnmower, which enables me to switch off when the channel is running programs that are unsuitable."
"Censorship, Sister?" said Matlock drily.
"No, selection," she replied firmly. "It is shown natural history, geography and current affairs programs, but I thought that animated cartoons would only confuse it. And war films, which it could not know were fiction, would be frightening. It is able to see enough violence on the news broadcasts."
Suddenly, Doctor Watterson was smiling and nodding approval. He said, "You have acted much more intelligently and responsibly than I expected, both of you. I'm sorry, Sisters, I've seriously misjudged you."
Matlock, who seemed anxious that the protagonists not become too friendly, said quickly, "But the fact still remains that you are not properly equipped to cope with this situation. You know that you should have handed the creature over to those better qualified to do so instead of deliberately keeping its presence a secret. Sister, if it hadn't been for the alertness of Captain McCloskey, we still wouldn't know that it was here. Isn't that so, Captain?"
"I suppose so," said the officer, looking very uncomfortable. "But I really blame myself for not being able to talk the sister into releasing it to me. I must have made a very bad impression."
"Not at all, young man," said Sister Augustine. "I'm sorry if I allowed my irritation to show. It was simply that you carried a weapon, something you should not do in a place like this, and were wearing battle dress and hob-nailed boots which were scratching the surface of our centuries-old polished floor. There was also the possibility, already mentioned, that you might take the visitor by force. But your manners were at all times impeccable."
"Thank you," said the captain, looking even more uncomfortable.
She went on, "That was one of the reasons why, during your second visit, I let you accompany the cameraman to film the creature. You weren't carrying a machine-gun and had changed into that rather smart day uniform with proper shoes. Another reason was that I wanted you to see the visitor then, in the hope that you would realize, and perhaps convince your superiors, that it was not an enemy."
Before the officer could reply, Matlock said irritably, "Come, come, Sister. Captain McCloskey is a professional soldier. He would not be misguided regarding the strength of an enemy from meeting an unarmed and injured prisoner. You're being totally unrealistic and stupid over this sanctuary business. Think about it. We have here the completely incredible situation in which you, an ageing sister-in-charge of this not very important religious establishment, have forbidden access, except to Captain McCloskey and a cameraman, to the first known extraterrestrial to visit Earth. You have done this in spite of continuing and increasing pressure from the military, civil, and through them your own ecclesiastical authorities. I know for a fact that your Sister-General and Sister-Provincial, your bishop and even the Papal Nuncio's office have all been asked to intervene, and have strongly advised you to release this creature to us.
"Sister, isn't there also a rule of obedience?"
"There is," Sister Augustine replied, choosing her words carefully. "But I have the responsibility here, and while one must obey lawful commands, one does not have to take advice, no matter from whom it comes or how strongly it is worded. Unless I were to be declared incompetent or mentally unfit, there is nothing more my superiors can do. This is a matter for my own conscience, which is, to the best of my knowledge, clear."
"I have a niggling doubt about that, Sister," said Matlock in a tone that sounded politely incredulous. "Normally my program investigates people who have much to hide and whose consciences are murky indeed. I don't think you would lie to me, but I have a strong suspicion that you aren't telling everything you know. Towards a member of a religious order there are, regrettably, constraints of language and behavior which—"
"Mr. Matlock," Sister Augustine broke in gently. "I have watched and enjoyed your program many times, and I have no objection to your usual methods of questioning. The fact that none of your program subjects has ever been proven innocent does worry me a little, but if you have niggling doubts please let me try to resolve them. I'm sure that your language and behavior will not make me blush."
It was Matlock whose face was red. Ignoring the compliment, he said harshly, "Sister, why did you allow only Captain McCloskey and one cameraman to film the creature, instead of the usual team? Why were you so anxious that we film only the creature on the divan and its food table? And why was it that the footage we did shoot was precisely what was needed to ensure that you, ostensibly a simple, elderly nun, are able to hold us all to ransom? Did you realize that by so doing you would force us to come here, to screen this special program from a convent that is so obviously in need of major structural repair?
"Could it be," he went on quickly, "that the arrival of the creature was, from your viewpoint, a heaven-sent opportunity to effect those repairs? Is this whole sanctuary business simply a means of gaining maximum publicity? But did you, being simple and unworldly as you are, underestimate the broadcast and repeat fees that would accrue for a program that is being taken by virtually every network on the planet? Well, Sister, I can't estimate it either, because such a thing hasn't happened since the first moon landing. But I can tell you that it would be more than enough to repair the crumbling outer walls, and replace your antiquated central heating, and enough even to move your convent, stone by stone, and rebuild it anywhere on Earth that you chose, and with money to spare.
"We're waiting for answers, Sister."
"Then maybe you'll wait a moment longer," said Sister Augustine, "while I try to remember all the questions, including those you tried to answer for me."
