An hour after Ilika and the others left the medical waiting room, Mati and Rini were still entwined on a couch, whispering thoughts and feelings to each other. The gray-haired human healer entered the room.
“Hello,
Mati.”
She tried to smile.
“Hi, Healer Dakalio,” Rini said.
“If you’d like, while you’re thinking about your options, I could do detailed scans. That way, we’ll know more, and you’ll know more, before you have to make any decisions.”
Mati’s mouth shifted back and forth in thought. “Um . . . okay. You’ll tell me everything you find?”
“Everything. I promise.”
For the next three hours, Mati allowed the mysterious machines to hover over every part of her knees, legs, and feet. What she didn’t allow was Rini leaving her side, except once when he was beginning to cross his legs and do a clumsy dance.
To her surprise, the healer had his scanners probe both her knees, not just the bad one.
“We have to have something to compare to. Your left knee has had a hard life, but it’s a lot closer to normal than . . . you know.”
Mati smiled up at the healer for the first time.
NEBADOR Book Six: Star Station 64
He smiled back. “I think K’stimla would want to work on your hips and ankles a bit, too. After all, you have two or three hundred good years ahead of you.”
“Wait a minute!” Rini challenged with a frown. “Even after I change that into base ten, it’s still a lot longer than we live!”
The healer smiled slightly. “Maybe on your planet, but this is Nebador.
It’s not easy finding good people, so we keep them as long as we can. I’m two hundred and fifteen.”
Rini and Mati looked at each other with open mouths.
For the next hour, Healer Dakalio explained many things he could see in the medical scans, and promised that K’stimla would see even more.
A shadow came over Mati’s face. “How am I going to find the courage to let a big, green insect be my surgeon?”
The healer’s eyes gleamed. “The first step has already been arranged. The four of us are having dinner together.”
Mati sighed. “I don’t suppose she’ll eat me.”
The older man laughed. “Not unless you’re a frog! She loves frogs’ legs.”
Rini nodded and his eyes sparkled. “We do too!”
Mati sighed again. “All I have to do is eat frogs’ legs with a big bug who’s my only hope of walking again. Being a slave was so much simpler.”
Both Rini and the healer laughed deeply.
Mati desperately wanted to avoid sitting next to the huge green insect, so she quickly hobbled to the chair between the other two human chairs. Then she realized that would put her directly across the table from the big bug, face to face. She sighed and carefully sat down.
When the mantid surgeon arrived, a few minutes late, she perched on the floor in the remaining empty space and exchanged friendly greetings with her fellow healer on one side. Rini, on the other side, quickly joined in the pleasant conversation.
Mati was glad everyone was ignoring her.
Soon a cart arrived, pushed by a reptile wearing a funny purple hat, which caused smiles and laughter among almost all of those present. Bowls of fresh
NEBADOR Book Six: Star Station 65
leaves came first, with a variety of sauces and sprinkles to choose from.
Mati tried not to look, but couldn’t contain her curiosity. The surgeon ate with her two front-most legs, but the finger-like mandibles around her mouth did most of the work.
Both Dakalio and Rini steered the conversation toward topics that would give Mati some sense of what would happen, if she had the surgery, without ever referring to Mati or her knee. Hearing that surgery was done underwater piqued Mati’s curiosity. A big pot of steamed frogs was placed in the center of the table, and bowls of dipping sauces completed the main course.
Mati noticed that K’stimla preferred the sweet-tart sauce. At first Mati avoided it, only using the savory garlic sauce. But when she started on her second frog, she took a deep breath, tried the sweet-tart sauce, and immediately understood why the surgeon preferred it.
Rini shared stories from their travels that made Mati smile. Dakalio, without ever looking at Mati, recalled times when patients would almost rather die than let a monkey mammal provide medical care. He clarified that those patients had not been Nebador citizens.
Mati felt about an inch tall. She also felt completely left out of the companionship and good cheer encircling the table. She suddenly realized that if she refused the surgery and went home, Rini might go with her, but their relationship would probably be reduced to . . . something not much better than slavery.
“Um . . .” she managed to squeak, her eyes still on her plate, “I don’t think I could let any healer work on me unless Rini was at my side the whole time.”
Mati looked at Rini with a questioning smile. Rini grinned at Dakalio.
Dakalio turned to K’stimla.
“Actually,” K’stimla began, “I wouldn’t attempt this procedure without Rini there, because he’s going to be my assistant for the surgery.”
Rini’s eyes grew wide. “But . . . I don’t know anything about . . .”
K’stimla’s hundred or more insect eyes looked at the lad. “You know how to draw breath, pump blood, and regulate body temperature. A machine could do all that, but it cannot love Mati as you do.” The surgeon then looked directly at Mati. “Can you place your life in this boy’s hands?”
Mati labored for a moment to swallow the huge lump in her throat. “Um
NEBADOR Book Six: Star Station 66
. . . um . . . yes.”
Deep Learning Notes
Our lifespan, in a primitive, natural environment (such as “caveman” days) was about 25 years, but that was mostly due to predator attacks and accidents, not “old age.” With agriculture for a greater food supply, villages and cities for greater safety, and basic medical care, we doubled that to about 50 years.
In the 20th century, with plentiful energy and modern medicine, we have added another 25 to bring our lifespan to about 75 years.
We know that one major factor in aging is the radiation we receive from the sun and other sources. An advanced civilization, whose members rarely went
“outside,” might be able to add many years to their lifespan just by this one change. Other things they might do, both medically and spiritually, would be pure speculation.
Frogs’ legs taste about the same as chicken, and are a common food in just about every culture on Earth, except a few that are so rich they can be picky about what they eat.
How was Mati’s choice of dipping sauce symbolic of her changing attitude toward the surgeon?
Mati was looking for a way to accept the surgery, but wanted to retain some control, so she set a condition. By accepting the condition, and even going a step further and REQUIRING it, K’stimla created a situation Mati could hardly reject, since it had been her idea.