Chapter 16
I went back to the lab and tried to lock myself in, but I was now ship's surgeon, and apparently the gathering in the mess descended into a party. One man ate so many space rations that we had to pump his stomach and bowel contents in the theatre—don't ask—the stuff expands and bloats. Another man cut himself badly on the corner of a table. I examined him while he sat, half-slumped, on a chair in the first aid room. He was one of the louts who'd shouted my name in the mess. I'd seen him before, too. Cuts and bruises from fights, bouts of uncontrollable vomiting.
I wiped blood off his face. The cut was nasty, but we'd fix it up all right. There were other parts of him that concerned me. I unbuttoned his shirt and with my gloved hands, prodded his stomach. That provoked a wet be
