Read Online Project Pope by Clifford D. Simak - Free Book Online

place? I thought that it was yours.”
    â€œMine? Oh, no. I have a suite much like this. But this one is for guests. For the moment, it is yours. We understand you lost your luggage, and we’ve arranged to supply you with a wardrobe. It will be here in the morning. I hope you do not mind.”
    â€œIt was unnecessary,” Tennyson said stiffly.
    â€œYou persist in not understanding,” said Ecuyer. “There is nothing we can do that would properly repay you.…”
    â€œYou can’t be sure of what I’ve done. Mary still may not make it, even with the protein.”
    â€œBut there was improvement.”
    â€œYes, the pulse is better. She seems a little stronger. The temperature dropped a bit, but not enough to be significant.”
    â€œI have faith in you,” said Ecuyer. “I think you’ll pull her through.”
    â€œLook,” said Tennyson, “let’s start by being honest. You’ve talked with the captain, or some of your people have talked with him. You know damn well I didn’t lose my luggage. I brought along no luggage. I had no time to pack. I was on the run.”
    â€œYes,” said Ecuyer smoothly. “Yes, we know all that. But we were not about to confront you with it. We don’t know what happened, and unless you want to tell us, we don’t want to know. We have no need to know. I know you are a doctor. I wasn’t even absolutely sure of that to start with, but now I know you are. With you there is a chance Mary will live; without you, what would have been her chance?”
    â€œProbably no chance at all,” said Tennyson. “Unless that little nurse had decided on her own.…”
    â€œShe wouldn’t have,” said Ecuyer. “She had no way to know. And she would not have dared.”
    â€œAll right, then. Say I saved the patient. Hell, man, that’s my business. That’s what I’m trained to do. Save all I can; I cannot save them all. You are not in debt to me. A simple fee would be all I ask. Maybe not even that. I left my credentials behind. At the moment, I couldn’t prove I am a doctor if my life depended on it. And I’m not sure at all of my legal right to practice here. There are such things as licenses.”
    Ecuyer waved his hand. “No need to worry on that score. If you say you are a doctor, then you are a doctor. If we let you practice here, then you have the right to practice.”
    â€œYes,” said Tennyson. “If Vatican says so.…”
    â€œOn End of Nothing, if Vatican says so, then it is so. There is no one to dispute us. Were it not for us, there’d be no End of Nothing. We are End of Nothing.”
    â€œAll right,” said Tennyson. “All right. I’m not arguing with you. I have no wish to argue. One of your people is sick and I treated her. That’s what I’m supposed to do. Let’s not build up a case about it.”
    â€œBy now, Doctor,” said Ecuyer, “you should have grasped the situation. We have no doctor. We very badly need one. We want you to stay on as our resident physician.”
    â€œJust like that?”
    â€œJust like that,” said Ecuyer. “Can’t you see? We’re desperate. It would take us months to get another doctor. And then, what kind of doctor?”
    â€œYou don’t know what kind of doctor—”
    â€œI know you have devotion to your patients. And you are honest. You are honest about how you happen to be here, and when I asked about your treatment, you’d give no guarantees. I like that kind of honesty.”
    â€œSomeone may come storming in here with a warrant for my arrest. I don’t think it will happen, but …”
    â€œThey’d play hell serving it,” said Ecuyer. “We protect our own. If you really are in trouble, Doctor, I can guarantee your safety here. Be you right or wrong, I can still guarantee it.”
    â€œAll right,