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 I understand? said Cerdal. It was still looking at O Mara.
 Your training? Lioren continued,  will be given principally by what you may
consider to be the subordinate members of this department, Braithwaite, Gha
Thrat, and myself. We will be advising and more often as not criticizing and
telling you where you went wrong. Will you have a problem with that?
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 No? said the Cemmeccan.  At least, not until my training is complete and my
appointment to the job is confirmed. Then I may have critical words of my own
to say. But I must repeat my earlier question.~~
 Go on, said Lioren.
Obviously choosing its words with care and with its attention still focused on
O Mara, Cerdal continued,  I am being considered" for the most senior and
responsible position in the hospital. Why then is this interview being
conducted not by the present incumbent but by underlings? To a person of my
high professional standing I find this demeaning, even insulting, unless there
is a very good reason or excuse for your behavior. Bearing in mind the grey
coloration of your head fur, is it possible that you are no longer capable of
performing your duties adequately and require more youthful assistance? This
would be a completely acceptable excuse.
Beside him Cha Thrat and Lioren were still as statues, and on the communicator
he could hear Braithwaite making noises which suggested that someone was
strangling him. All of them were waiting for a verbal explosion of nuclear
proportions, but O Mara had a contrary streak that delighted in doing the
unexpected.
He smiled and said,  A possibility you have not considered, Dr. Cerdal, is
that I am conducting not one interview but four, and that my assistants,
unknown to themselves until this moment, are your fellow candidates for the
job.
Before anyone could speak, O Mara raised a hand and looked at each of them in
turn. He said,  Spare me your token protestations of inadequacy. False modesty
makes me sick. Your experience with this department s work makes all of your
prime candidates as my replacement, as do your qualifications in medicine. The
fact that the lieutenant s medical knowledge is rusty from disuse, and Cha
Thrat is not allowed to practice here, and Lioren, for personal reasons, has
forbidden itself to practice, is unimportant. The administrator will not be
expected to treat patients.
 Gha Thrat, Padre? he continued briskly,  I know exactly how much you have to
do. Continue doing it. Braithwaite, free some time to show Dr. Gerdal around
what it hopes will be its future empire. And remember, I will be watching and
from time to time testing all of you. Your future promotion depends on your
increased levels of professional competence, behavior under stress, and my own
personal whim ..
He allowed his face to crack into one of its rare smiles.
..... not necessarily in that order of importance? he ended.  Your preliminary
interviews are over. You may go.
CHAPTER 6
Close on half a century earlier, the idea of promotion was something that
O Mara had not felt happy about-although, to be honest with himself, the fact
that it had never been offered might have played a large part in forming that
feeling. Now, for the first time in his working life, he was being offered one
and his first reaction was to shake his head. Vigorously.
 A facial expression reflecting pleasure, said Major Craythorne gravely,  and
a simple word of thanks with a few questions tacked on regarding your exact
status, job description, and increased level of pay is what I expected from
you, not an outright refusal. This is the first step on a ladder you must have
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wanted to climb all your life, O Mara, and with your proven capabilities the
succeeding steps will be easier. What are you afraid of?
Craythorne sighed, wrinkled his nose, and in a gentle, apologetic voice said,
 I d ask you to sit down for a while and talk about this, but you re filthy
and you stink to high heaven as would the chair when the next person comes in
to sit on it,so I m afraid you ll have to take the good news on your feet.
What the hell were you doing?
 I was helping clear the blocked waste-disposal system on Level Thirty-Three
when your-
 What possible reason? the Major broke in,  did my xenopsychology assistant
have for clearing blocked latrines?
 Four reasons? O Mara replied.  The squad leader had been called away; his men
didn t know what the hell they were doing, while I had, ah, previous
experience in the job; I didn t have anything urgent to do at the time; and, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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