CHAPTER III
"How do you feel?" Quotis asked.
"Still stiff," said the patient.
"But otherwise?"
"Otherwise fine. They told me how you saved my life, doctor," the patient said in Arcturan.
"I'm still surprised how well you speak my language."
"I seem to have a gift for tongues. I can speak Earthian, Arcturan, Sirian, Fomalhaution, and naturally, my own Kedaki. All of them with just about no accent, all of them equally well."
"We'll be taking the bandages off today. You still don't have any hair, but that ought to grow back later. You're alive, and that's what counts. Can you believe that every square inch of your skin surface was gone when they found you last month?"
"That's what the nurses keep telling me. Do you think that after the bandages are removed, doctor, they might find out about me?"
"We were hoping your memory would come back of its own accord. Otherwise," Quotis shrugged, "there are other ways. As you can imagine, thousands of your fellow Kedaki are still missing, after the quake. Most of them probably will never be found, so there ought to be thousands of people through here to look at you—when you're well enough. Never fear, one of them will know you."