cial Operations; analysis was for Intelligence. He simply accepted
facts as he found them.

Odeon let Egan choose pastries while he drew coffee and paid the
cashier. Once they found an empty table and settled themselves, he
said, "Okay, Doctor. Tell me."

"To begin with, most of her injuries are what I understand you
Enforcement people call minor. Fractured skull, three broken ribs,
assorted cuts, burns, and bruises." Egan frowned. "However, her
spinal injury is serious even by your standards, and . . . Captain,
did she plan to have children?"

'Did,' not 'does,' Odeon thought grimly. "Yes, Doctor." Until he'd
met Joanie, Odeon hadn't minded that the red crossed daggers of the SO
patch on his sleeve meant he was sterile; his parents had both had
plague-derivatives that made it inevitable, and it was a fate he shared
with almost a third of the Kingdom Systems' population. That patch
also meant he was one of those trusted to protect his Kingdom and the
Systems from their most dangerous enemies. No one able to have
children was allowed into SO since the average life expectancy was less
than a year . . . "As soon as she found a suitable--and fertile--man.
What was it, the rape?"

"Multiple rapes, and not all with . . . natural equipment." Egan
looked at the grim, scar-faced man across from her, uncomfortably aware
that he was both upset and a trained killer. That she knew he was a
devout man as well was little help; Church and state both 'overlooked'
acts from Enforcement people that they would condemn in anyone else.
It seemed reasonable to assume Odeon and Cortin had been lovers, that
if he'd been fertile he would have been the father of her children.
"Captain, it pains me to have to tell you this, but she was so badly
injured by them that the doctors in Middletown were forced to do an
emergency hysterectomy, simply to save her life."

"Does she know?" Odeon kept his voice level, but with effort.

"Not yet. She should be stronger before she is given any more shocks."

Odeon nodded; that made good sense. "What about her spine?"

Egan breathed a silent sigh of relief at the change of subject. "You
know it has what are called discs?" At his nod, she went on. "Good.
According to the medevac doctor, a sharp blow to her back has caused
one of those discs to swell and 'float,' or pop out of position from
time to time. The swelling may subside, but if it does not--which is
most likely--Captain Cortin