feel fine again!"
92 "So do I!" put in Helm.
93 "My leg's stopped hurting! " added Firing Control, "And my board's
working! Those circuits were charred black; melted! They're perfect
again!"
94 "Well, maybe they repaired the injuries," warned the Medic, "but
they couldn't replace the lost blood! I've got to pump in some blood replacement right now, sir!"
95 "Go ahead," agreed North.
96 The Medic strapped North's arm to the command chair, hung a bag and
put the needle in his arm.
97 "We are sorry we could not do that also," continued the alien
Commander, "but your process seems sufficient. We must apologize,
Commander. We are dreadfully sorry we caused this! It is no excuse,
but we had just changed personnel with another ship and were preparing
a mating dance. In the excitement for our pleasure, we got
careless and nearly destroyed you. Some of our people could not have
survived that.
98 We are very grateful for your sake, and, ours, that you managed to
survive. Saying we're sorry doesn't seem to be enough. But there is
little else we can do. We should have been monitoring, been
aware of what you were doing, but we knew you weren't supposed to come here, and you took
us by surprise."
99 "It is understandable," agreed North, "And you have done all you
could."
100 "There is one thing, Commander! " the alien Commander requested,
"if you will permit we will erase all trace of us from your computer's
memories. It is embarrassing enough that some of our people went off
and carelessly left you pictures of one of our ships. It would not do
to
have that happen again. And if you and your people could remain silent
about what you saw...."