小説星のヨッシー オートン軍団の襲来！【英語版】

Act Three: The Man From Space

In a small private room, Ashbridge Cottage Hospital's latest arrival lay motionless on the bed. Henderson stood over him, his face a picture of astonishment. He'd expected all along that the new arrival would mean trouble. But not this kind of trouble. Hovering as it seemed between life and death, the new patient was showing reflexes and reactions that Henderson had never encountered before.
  Henderson looked up eagerly as a nurse entered with a batch of X-ray plates. Surely these would throw some light on things. The nurse looked at the still figure on the bed. 'How is he, Doctor?'
  Henderson turned away to look at the X-rays. 'I only wish I knew,' he said honestly. The nurse leaned over the patient, automatically smoothing the pillows and straightening the sheets. The Third Doctor on the bed was quiet and still, scarcely breathing. She studied the still features for a moment. It was a strange face.
  Sometimes it seemed handsome and dignified, sometimes quizzical, almost comic. The seams and wrinkles, the shock of almost white hair should have made it an old face, yet somehow there was a strong impression of energy and youth.
  Suddenly the nurse drew back in amazement as two very blue eyes flicked open, and studied her with interest. Then solemnly one of them winked. Both eyes closed and the man seemed to subside into his coma. 'Nurse!' Henderson's voice made her jump. It was cold with anger. 'Would you mind coming over here, please?'
  The nurse trembled. Like all the other nurses in the hospital, she was terrified of Henderson and his sharp tongue. What could be wrong now, she thought. Maybe those idiots in radiology had sent up the wrong plates.
  Whatever it was, she'd be the one to get the blame. Inwardly quaking, she crossed to where Henderson was examining the X-rays on a lighted stand. 'Is there anything wrong, Doctor?' she said, trying to keep her voice calm.
  Henderson pointed to the X-ray. 'You have, I take it, studied the human anatomy as part of your training?'
  The nurse sighed. 'Of course, Doctor.'
  Henderson jabbed a quivering finger at the X-ray plate. 'Then perhaps you would be kind enough to tell me what that is?' She followed the direction of the finger. 'It's the patient's heart, Doctor.'
  Henderson's finger moved across to the other side of the plate. 'Then what's this, then, eh? What's this?' By now he was so angry that his voice came out only as a sort of strangulated shriek.
  The nurse, now completely terrorised, leaned forward and peered nervously at the X-ray. Then she drew a deep breath. 'It appears to be another heart, sir.'
  'Exactly,' said Henderson grimly. 'Another heart. And that, as we know, is impossible, isn't it, nurse? Now then, which of your jolly medical student friends is responsible for this little prank, eh?'
  The nurse struggled to control her quavering voice. 'I don't know, Doctor, honestly. All I did was wait till the plates were ready and bring them back to you.'
  Henderson studied her narrowly and saw that she was much too terrified to be relating anything except the truth. As always, he regretted his quick temper. 'All right,' he said gruffly, 'probably wasn't your fault. But someone in that X-ray Department is playing games with me, and I'm going to find out who it is.' He was about to stride from the room when the internal 'phone bleeped. The nurse picked it up.
  An angry voice said in her ear: 'This is Lomax. Pathology Lab. Is Doctor Henderson there?'
  The nurse almost dropped the 'phone from pure terror. If there was anyone more feared than Doctor Henderson, it was old Doctor Lomax in Pathology. Silently she handed the 'phone to Doctor Henderson. He took it and said, 'Doctor Henderson. Well?'
  The fierce Scottish voice jabbed at his eardrums. 'No, Doctor Henderson, it's no' well at all. Not when ye've the time to play wee stupid tricks on a busy man like me.'
  Henderson's bad temper returned full blast. He and Lomax were old enemies. 'What the blazes are you talking about?'
  'I am talking, Doctor Henderson, about the sample of blood ye've just sent us for cross matching. Ye admit ye sent the sample?'
  'Of course I did. It's routine. You know that. What's the matter with it?'
  The voice on the 'phone was airily sarcastic. 'Oh nothing, Doctor Henderson, nothing. Except that it's not human blood, as you very well know.'
  Henderson said angrily. 'What do you mean, not human? I took it from the patient myself.'
  'It is not human blood,' said Lomax emphatically. 'The platelet stickiness is quite different and it corresponds to no known human blood-type.'
  'Now you listen to me, Doctor Lomax. I took that blood sample from an adult male patient who is lying on the bed in front of me now. You tell me it's not human. His X-ray tells me he's got two hearts. Now I don't know whether that makes me a doctor, a vet or a raving lunatic, but as far as I'm concerned those are the facts.'
  Henderson slammed down the 'phone, feeling considerably better for his outburst. He turned to the nurse, who braced herself for another blast, and was astonished when Henderson said gently, 'It seems I owe you an apology, nurse.' He crossed to the bed and looked down at the sleeping man. 'Well, whoever or whatever you are, old chap, you're still a patient, and it's my job to look after you.' Henderson turned to the nurse with a worried smile. 'The only thing is—I haven't the faintest idea where to start.'
  They both looked down at the man on the bed. The nurse said, 'I thought he was coming round a moment ago, but he seems to have...'
  She stopped as the Doctor on the bed opened his eyes again. This time he was frowning. He said clearly, 'My lord, I wish to protest in the strongest terms... the sentence is... I insist on my rights...'
  The voice tailed away and the patient slept again. In the corridor outside, Mullins, the hospital porter, abandoned a halfmopped floor and moved off towards the foyer. No one paid Mullins any attention as he slipped across the foyer and into the 'phone booth. He was a seedy little man, easy to ignore. Quickly he dialled the local paper, hands trembling with excitement. In a moment he was speaking to one of the junior reporters.
  'Listen, I've got something for you.'