hands. Yet something was wriggling uncomfortably in the back of his
mind, a quiet little voice saying _this isn't right, you should be doing
this yourself right now instead of wasting precious time...._

He thrust the thought away angrily and ordered the Moruan physicians to
bring in ice packs to cool the patient's huge hulk down to hibernation
temperatures. "We're going to send for help," Dal told the Moruan
surgeon who had met them at the ship. "This man needs specialized care,
and we'd be taking too much chance to try to do it this way."

"You mean you're sending for a hospital ship?"

"That's right," Dal said.

This news seemed to upset the Moruans enormously. They began growling
among themselves, moving back from the operating table.

"Then you can't save him?" the operating surgeon said.

"I think he can be saved, certainly!"

"But we thought you could just step in--"

"I could, but that would be taking chances that we don't need to take.
We can maintain him until the hospital ship arrives."

The Moruans continued to growl ominously, but Dal brushed past them,
checking the vital signs of the patient as his body temperature slowly
dropped. Tiger had taken over the anaesthesia, keeping the patient under
as light a dosage of medication as was possible.