Plague of Memory Read Online Free Page B

your children and mate," I said, nodding. "I did not know of their existence, or that they held you in
    such low regard. You should have said so, Jorenian. My sympathies." "My embrace of the stars will be celebrated," Dapvea snapped. "They honor me."
    "But they would wish you to live only if you have four limbs? A strange sort of honor you people have for each other. I was told your kind were most affectionate, particularly toward kin. Ah, well." I sighed and made a notation on his chart. "Senior Healer, under the circumstances, perhaps we should persuade Knofki Adan to self-terminate as well."
    Squilyp caught my eye and nodded. "Yes, I see the wisdom in that, Doctor." "Knofki is a child who lost some toes," the Jorenian shouted. "I have no legs."
    "Toes, arms, legs—does it matter?" I shrugged. "A flaw is a flaw. One does not wish the boy to suffer the pain and humiliation of being outcast on the homeworld when we could have attended to his proper disposal here." I gazed at Squilyp. "How, exactly, do you help boy children take their lives? This custom is strange to me."
    "I know what you are doing," Dapvea said, and fell back against the pillows to stare at the ceiling. "I would not have them see me a cripple. I have always been the strongest of my ClanFather's children."
    "To lose two legs, learn to use prosthetics, and walk again requires great strength of body and will. I saw much of that during the rebellion." I measured him with a glance. "You reminded me of those fighters, until this talk of death. To die is to lose. Everything."
    Dapvea fell silent, and the Omorr and I used the interval to examine his stumps and update his chart. It was difficult not to say more, but I sensed that to do so would push the Jorenian too far. The Senior Healer seemed also aware of this.
    At last he struggled to sit up and gestured to the berth linens. "I want to see them."
    Squilyp appeared ready to refuse, but I pulled away the sheet and showed him the neatly bandaged stumps.
    "Your thighs are mostly intact," I told him, speaking quickly as the skin of his face turned a chalky color. "The prosthetic limbs can be fitted to the stumps when they heal, and work off the nerve and muscle tissue we were able to salvage. In time, you will walk and perhaps even run, as any strong man does."
    "Or woman," Squilyp said briskly. "ClanLeader Sajora Kalea lost most of her leg during the siege of Reytalon. Do you know of her?"
    "Know? I celebrated her return to the home-world, when she and the Blade Dancers were made Clanjoren and named the House Kalea." Dapvea reached down to gingerly touch one of the dressings. "Do you know that she had one of her kin weld her shattered leg together before it was removed, so that she could fight to avenge herself and her Chosen?"
    I would have to ask Reever about her. "She sounds like a brave woman." His white eyes lifted to mine. "Indeed." He took
    one last look at his stumps before he reclined. "I revoke my request for my Speaker. I would know more about these prosthetics, and how it will be for me."
    Squilyp summoned the resident responsible for fitting amputees with artificial limbs, and we left him discussing the details with Dapvea. I walked out into the ward and looked down the row of berths. A nurse was clearing Knofki's morning meal, which he had apparently wolfed down, while another was measuring him for support braces. He was trying very hard not to squirm. I would have to keep a close eye on the boy, or he would be racing through the corridors on them.
    "We have time to perform a halo-stim," the Senior Healer said as he joined me.
    I stiffened. "I had one only yesterday."
    "The stimulation is necessary if we are to make any progress with recovering your memories."
    "Her memories," I said, wishing an emergency appendectomy would walk in at that very moment. "Not mine."
    "When we achieve a successful recovery," the Omorr said with the deliberation of a tested patience, "they will be yours. Come now."
    I did