Birthright

“Far from being a crazy answer,” said Darlinski “I've got a sneaky suspicion it's the only sane one. You

can act as my anesthetist.”

“Will you need one?”

“Shortly. Nurse: you, Jennings and I will now don our oxygen masks.” This done, he ordered the atmosphere lowered to three and a half percent oxygen. “Okay, Jennings, set the respirator up to thirty-five percent and knock her out.”

Jennings placed the nozzle over the Pnathian's breathing orifice, and the ambassador lost consciousness almost immediately.

“Is the acid vat here?” asked Darlinski. He looked around until he found it. “All right, nurse. We will now prepare for amputation.”

“What are you amputating, sir?” asked the nurse. “The head,” said Darlinski.

“I knew it!” said Jennings. “You've got to be out of your mind!'’ “What've we got to lose?” asked Darlinski, unmindful of the nurse's horrified reaction. “Mindless or dead, the war starts; this is the only way to stop it.” And, so saying, he made an incision midway on the long stalk that passed for a Pnathian neck. His hands moved quickly, expertly, until the neck was all but severed. “Nurse,” he said, looking up for an instant, “it will doubtless bother you no end, but I don't want this sutured or closed in any way. We will apply a tourniquet for about ninety seconds, but it must then be removed.”

The nurse, pale and horrified, nodded weakly. “Jennings, you know what to do with the head?'’ “The vat?”

Darlinski nodded. “If I'm right, it's going to be screaming bloody murder anyway, so we'll destroy it as quickly as possible.”

“Wouldn't the incinerator have been more humane?” “Doubtless. However, I don't relish taking a babbling, decapitated head down five levels and through crowded corridors to the incinerator. Do you?” “I see your point.” Jennings grinned. He grunted as the head rolled off the Pnathian's body, and, averting his eyes as best he could, he quickly took it to the opaque vat and placed it inside. When he got back to the table he found Darlinski removing the tourniquet. No blood poured forth. “It probably doesn't need it, despite the absence of its mouth, but let's open up the neck a bit and insert