DOC CAME AT a dogtrot. Well, a rat-trot. And he was carrying his pack, which he'd found. He took one look at Chip's pale face and said: "And which one is the patient, Fal?"
Chip was in no mood for funnies.
"She got hit on head by one of those fragments. Right on her soft-cyber implant. Help her, Doc! Please! She's bleeding something terrible."
The rat looked at Chip very strangely. Very strangely indeed. But, for a miracle, he didn't actually say anything. He just began examining Ginny's head, gently and carefully. He reached into his pack and produced a scalpel. Chip's eyes widened in horror. "Please, God . . ."
"I thought you were an agnostic," said the rat-medic. "Relax. I just need to remove some hair."
"You're . . . you're not going to operate?"
Doc snuffled with what might have been laughter. "Chip, I'm a field medic and a rat. What do think I'm going to do? Open brain surgery? I'd get you to do it except your hands are shaking too much."
The rat shaved the patch. "Get Bronstein for me," he said.
"I'm here. Above you," Bronstein replied.
"How is your infrasound examination of bones?" Doc asked. "In theory you should be able to do it."
Bronstein looked doubtful. "To be sure, if I have wet contact . . ."
"You can `trink her bludd,' " said Doc dryly.
Bronstein put her ugly crumpled leaf nose against Ginny's bloody head.
The bat pulled it away. "This is giving me a headache."
"No holes?" asked the rat.
"Not even a crack, that I can find." Bronstein wiped her nose with a wing. Then sneezed.
The medic nodded thoughtfully. "Very well. Open your eyes, Ginny."
She did. "Everything is all blurry, Doc."
"That's because you've lost your glasses." The rat's tone was bone dry.
"Oh. I . . . I didn't realize." She felt her head vaguely.
Chip pulled her hand away gently and kissed her. "Your face is just as beautiful without them."
"Get your big head out of the way. I need to check pupil dilation." Doc pushed him aside.
"Well?" asked Chip anxiously.
"Well, what? Hold this pad on the wound, Ginny. I don't think it is even going to need stitching. That bandana of yours saved you a bit."
"Well, is she going to be all right?" demanded Chip, on the verge of grabbing Doc and shaking him . . . like a terrier shakes rats.
"Medically, there appears to be no obvious fracture. I suppose we can't rule out the chance of a hairline crack. She may have had a slight concussion but she's got nice even pupil dilation." Doc continued packing away his tools.
"But why all the blood?" Chip demanded.
"Head wounds bleed, Chip," replied Doc evenly. "Even minor ones like this."
Chip swallowed. In a small voice he said, "But what about her soft-cyber chip. Is that all right? Is there anything we can do for it?
Doc shook his head and looked quizzically at Chip. "So you are now entirely in favor of soft-cyber chips? So! A new record for thesis becoming antithesis!"
Chip took Doc gently by the throat.
"He's just giving you a hard time, Chip," said Bronstein. "They showed us in basic training. Soft-cybers are tough. You can drive a ten ton truck over one. Now, let him examine your shoulder and then he can come and sew Eamon's wing up."
"Besides," chuckled Doc, "they are embedded between the parietal lobes. You'd have to turn the brain to jelly first."
Chip had a neat bandage on his shoulder. The Jampad was speaking to the others in Korozhet. Fal was making a fire for a Magh'mmm barbecue. Chip put his uninjured arm around Ginny. "Dearest, you and I have to have a deep, serious talk."
"Only talk?" she said provocatively, from under her lashes. She giggled. As good as a rat-girl's repartee!
Chip blushed. "Well . . . all right. Soon." He hooked a thumb at the Jampad. "What's he saying?"
"He says he wants to go home," she translated.
"Tell him we'll get him a new ship," said Chip savagely. "From the Crotchets."
Then Chip turned to Bronstein. "And you, Bronstein? Why do you look like you just found out you chose your honeymoon for that time of month?"
Bronstein tried to smile. "Because we bats take a long view. We've won. Humans can win. We've just proved it. And without the war there will be no more cyber-uplifted bats. Especially now that we have found out that the soft-cyber implants contain a fatal flaw. We cannot breed on our own, and without cybernetics . . . we are dumb. It doesn't worry the rats much, but we bats have always dreamed of freedom."
Ginny stopped talking to the Jampad. She turned to face Bronstein. "No. This is not the end of the road for that dream, Bronstein. Not while there is breath in my body."
Bronstein shrugged. "To be sure, that's nice of you, Ginny. But what can one human do? You understand, because of your own implant. But who else ever will?"
Chip stuck his hand up. "I do. And so will a lot of Vat soldiers who fought alongside you bats." He grinned. "So let's start a revolution. The Rat, Bat and Vat Liberation Movement. I'll be the chef. Work out new recipes for Shareholder supreme." He squeezed Ginny's shoulder. She smiled at him.
Fluff's eyes brightened. He pounded his chest. "Viva! Will there be gorilla warfare, señor? I always wanted to be a gorilla!"
Fal wandered up, trying to unscrew a bottle. "Doth beg the real vital question. Will there be strong drink?" He handed the bottle to Chip. "Do what humans do best," he commanded imperiously.
While Chip obediently opened the bottle, Ginny smiled at Bronstein. "Michaela, I think the Crotchet wanted me—and killed my parents—because I am heir to thirty-four percent of the shares in the HAR colony. Things are going to change. It may not be easy, but we will overcome."
"Why didn't you tell me, Ginny?"
"Because I was scared you'd despise me. Think I was just a doll. A wind-up Cathy Earnshaw. I'm not. I'm me."
Chip smiled and hugged her, one armed. "Cathy Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights? That wet-lettuce! Hah! You, Ginny, are worth fifty of her. You're the most fantastically wonderful person in my whole world. And . . ."
"And . . . ?" she asked, shyly, wanting him to continue.
"And I think we should go and find a quiet corner. I want to take all your clothes off and make passionate love to you." His hands were doing most distracting things.
She kissed him. "You're an absolute genius."