She smiled. "It will. You're all set. You ordered the instruments months ago. Or did you forget something?"
That hit home, but he just grinned feebly. "I forgot to get somebody to boil water."
"Whatever for?"
"Coffee, of course. Didn't you know that? Papa always heats up the water; that keeps him out of the way, and the doctor has coffee afterwards."
Alice's hands grasped the sheet again, and Banes glanced at his watch. Ninety seconds! It was long and hard.
When the pain had ebbed away, he said: "We've got the delivery room all ready. It won't be much longer now."
"I'll say it won't! How about the incubator?"
There was a long pause. Finally, he said softly: "There isn't any incubator. I didn't take the possibility of a premature delivery into account. It's my fault. I've done what I could, though; the ship is bringing one up. I—I think we'll be able to keep the child alive until—"
He stopped. Alice was bubbling up with laughter.
"Lieutenant! Lieutenant Britton! Alice! This is no time to get hysterical! Stop it!"