UNIQUE WING

She was thinking about the probable connection to the disappearance of Samson and
the others. They might all be on the Navy Commander’s ship.
“She was a nicer person than she thought she was,” Horss said thoughtfully.
It took Mai a moment to realize Horss was speaking of Denna. It took that same
moment for her to realize the loss of Denna from her own life mattered much more
than she thought it would.
/
The Mnro Clinic director turned away from Horss. He could see she was finally
reacting to the situation. He listened to Jarwekh digging under the oak while he
waited for Mai to recover her composure.
“There are so few people on earth,” Mai eventually said. “Most of them in one place.
Because of my profession, I meet almost everyone sooner or later. A few, like Denna,
I’ve known for years. I always try to avoid becoming too involved with people like
Denna. All people, actually. I think I need to retain as much objectivity - emotional
distance - as possible to be an effective physician. I realize now that I’ve never been
objective about Denna. She was someone you couldn’t ignore. Good or bad, she was
a force. She was Rafael’s wife. I wish I’d known her then. The person I knew was so
self-absorbed, I just wanted to strangle her! She was always hurting herself. I treated
her wounds so many times and always knew it was a cry for help. Yet she wouldn’t
let anyone help her. I think she needed Rafael but he was afraid to confront her. Why
is our medical science still so reluctant to treat mental injuries?”
“She blamed him for their son’s death,” Horss said. He realized now who Denna was.
The wife of an important artist. The subject of famous portraits. And the forever-
grieving mother of a dead son.
“She blamed herself, or else she wouldn’t have suffered so,” Mai said and turned
around to face Horss. She frowned. “How can the Navy justify detaining Pan?”
“Can you imagine,” Horss asked, “anyone denying the Navy Commander anything he
wants?”
Why would he want Pan?”
“Let me tell you what happened when Pan met Demba.” Horss told Mai everything
he’d heard from Pan prior to his departure.
“Pan thought he was becoming someone else,” Mai then said. “There are reasons why
people try to stay on Earth. I always knew Pan was someone else. Doctor Mnro - as
legend has it - can parse a person’s DNA by sight and smell. I have some of that
talent myself. When I first came to Earth and met Pan as a patient, I suspected he
wasn’t exactly what his genetic record said he was. But how could I question the
integrity of the Clinic’s database?”
“I don’t think that was what he meant,” Horss said. “It was memories of being
someone he didn’t know he’d been. My guess is that Pan has proved to be a very
interesting individual. He has a connection to Demba, and Etrhnk wants time to
investigate him.”
“Nevertheless,” Mai said, “I’m fairly certain Pan didn’t realize he was not mainly
Essiin. He looks Earthian but he’s mainly Rhyan.”
“You broke some Clinic rules?” Horss hoped Miss Perfect wasn’t so perfect.
“I had to know. I did the analysis, ignoring the Clinic’s records. I had to assume Pan
was special in some way to the Mnro Clinic. Almost every time I have him in the
clinic for an injury or routine examination, the next day I’ll get a call from Doctor
Mnro herself, wanting to know how he is. And if he doesn’t get seen by the Clinic for
more than a year, I’ll also get a call from her. Pan thinks Doctor Mnro simply loves
the Mother Earth Opera. It must be more than that. I think I’m the only Clinic director
who talks so regularly with Doctor Mnro. Pan must be important to her. If she knew
Etrhnk was holding him, she’d do something about it.”
“You should call her,” Horss urged.
“If he isn’t home by tonight I will.”

1-21 An Algebra of Ethics

“One of the most beautiful sights in the universe, not only because of pattern and
color, but because of its history and its mystery. Instantly recognized by everyone.
The most hospitable planet known, even in its damaged state. Yet, it’s a dangerous
place, even lethal.”
Navy Commander Etrhnk turned to face his guest and motioned for the armed Marine
escort to leave them in private. He examined the Opera Master visually and with
other sensors to see there was no obvious physical injury to him. He was
uncomfortable in detaining Pan and restricted in how he could use forced
interrogation. This long into his term as Navy Commander, he was losing trust in his
barbarian staff.
“I’m performing a small experiment,” Etrhnk added.
/
Pan waited as the Marines departed. He waited for Etrhnk to say more, his troubled
mind unaware how talkative Etrhnk seemed. Behind Etrhnk, Earth - the subject of his
brief discourse - was a thin crescent, its night side glowing palely in reflected
moonlight.
Pan said nothing. He didn’t resent his imprisonment. He didn’t wonder at Etrhnk’s
purposes. He hardly had room in his turbulent thoughts to consider anything other
than the visions that erupted from some hidden volcano of burning-real imagery.
“In your brief absence from Earth much has happened down there,” Etrhnk continued,
turning away from Pan, leaving him at his back. “The artist’s residence had a
transmat visitor just after nightfall, then two more soon after. A fire started when the
second visitors arrived. Two structures were destroyed. I had already sent down a
probe. It observed the violent deaths of a woman and a dog.”
Pan’s mental turmoil subsided at Etrhnk’s mention of deaths. He found his voice. “A
dog? Gator? A woman died?”
“Perhaps you would care to see.”
The view of crescent Earth ceased, replaced by a terrestrial scene illuminated by
firelight. The perspective rushed toward distant human figures standing between
burning buildings. The flight of the probe halted, the picture stabilized, and the field
of view adjusted to include the appearance of another person from around the side of
one blazing structure.