l rations. It wasn't bad stew,
and he knew he'd need whatever strength it could give him, but he
simply couldn't get it down. He shook his head, immediately wishing he
hadn't when the dizziness got worse. "Dave--what can I expect?"

Dave put the stew down. He didn't want to answer, but a person had a
right to know the truth. "I've never seen a case before, so I can only
tell you what the book says." He took a deep breath. "Massive
stingweed poisoning--and you've been given as bad a case as I've ever
heard of--starts off by making you sick and feverish."

"That fits the way I feel," Tarlac said dryly. "Go on."

"The fever'll get worse," Dave said reluctantly. "Bad enough to make
you delirious. They you'll go into a coma, and if you don't get
first-class medical attention, you'll die."

"I've heard better news," Tarlac admitted. "Just what can you do about
it?"

"Not much, I'm afraid," Dave said. "I don't dare give you any drugs,
even ones as simple as a fungicide or antibiotic, because they're like
painkillers--too unpredictable on stingweed cases. I don't have either
the equipment or the skill to monitor you, or take corrective action if
you should have a bad reaction, and I sure don't want to make things
worse. I can keep the wounds clean and use cold water to help keep the
fever down, and . . . well, I'll do anything else I can think of to
slow the poison down. But it won't be a whole lot."

"I appreciate the honesty." And, Tarlac thought, the fact that he'd
been lucky enough to be rescued by someone who could appreciate the
fact of his own limitations! Not too many people of any age, in his
experience, had that much judgement. Too bad Dave's assessment was so
negative--but from what he'd said, Tarlac was able to take grim
amusement in the fact that he wouldn't be worrying about it much
longer. This mess would be a lot harder on the youngster than it would
on the one who should be in charge-- He broke off that pointless line
of thought. "Just keep me breathing till Friday morning, if you can--
the Marines will be landing as soon as it's full light, and there'll be
Navy mediteams with them. If they can get me into a lifepod, I'll have
a pretty good chance."

"I'll do what I can, of course." Dave frowned. "That's less than
forty-eight hours . . . the rebels'll be looking for us too, but I
don't think they'll get to us very fast."

"Don't be too sure," Tarlac cautioned. "Lord Robert is a