The Empyrean medical team had had a long discussion, and had then called together Will, Adam, Tom and Agnes, who they had realised were those closest to Ruth. The watched her writing in her sleep.
"She's in pain," Patrick said. "I know how it feels. Is there nothing we can do to help her?" Grothorne shook his head sadly.
"We have done all we can," he said. "Any more painkiller would prevent the antidote from working. She would slip into a sleep from which there would be no awaking." He looked around at them. "Perhaps that would be the best thing for her," he said. "I am afraid that the chances of a recovery now are very small.."
Some were shocked, others nodded sadly as if they had already guessed. Patrick felt as if his feet had been swept from under him.
"But I recovered," he said limply.
"Your case was not as serious as hers," Grothorne said. "Her chances were small enough to begin with, owing to the amount of time that had elapsed between her being bitten and treated. She should have awoken by now if the antidote was working. I'm sorry. We were too late, and she was too weak. Her body has all but given up."
"All but?" Tom asked. Grothorne nodded. "While there is life, there is always a sliver of hope."
"So...she still has a chance?" Will asked.
"A little. But so small- I would not advise you to build any hopes on it but to prepare for the worst." There was silence as everyone contemplated this. No one really knew what to say. Patrick pushed up his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
Grothorne cleared his throat. "Is any of you her next of kin?" he asked. "A relative, a partner? Someone with the authority to make decisions about her treatment?" The travellers exchanged glances.
"I don't think any of us are," Tom said. "We're all just friends,"
"You kidnapped us," Agnes said to Will. "You said you were responsible for us."
Will shied away from the idea. "Not like that- I can't," he said.
"Maybe you should have thought of that before you-" Tom began, but Grothorne interrupted.
"There is no help in arguing. But you should decide which of you is to be authorised to act for Ruth. Normally in the absence of a next of kin it would be the ship's captain, but given the circumstances of your kidnapping, I think it should be up to her closest friends to decide."
Tom looked round at Agnes and Patrick. "I suppose that's us," he said. "We've known her longest."
"You lived with her, and you were with her through all this," Agnes said to Patrick. He looked apprehensive.
"You know more about what she's going through," Adam added.
Grothorne spoke to Patrick. "Will you accept this responsibility, to help your friend?" he said. "It is our professional opinion that she is unlikely to recover. Since then, sadly, it is practically certain, barring the intervention of Brassica Rapa, that she will soon die, I am permitted under the medical law of this planet, having the opinion of two other medical practitioners, to end her pain- to give her that extra sedative which will let her slip into the sleep of death with no pain or suffering. But it would end the very small chance of recovery which she has left. So I cannot do so without permission from her representative. The choice is yours."
Patrick stared at him, horrified. "I can't decide that!" he said.
"No one is better fitted to choose," Grothorne said. The others nodded.
"But what do you think?" he asked the others. They looked awkward.
"I...I don't know," Tom said. "I mean, she's in pain, and if she's not going to recover, it seems kinder...but what if she would still have recovered? Can we take that risk, even if it's a small one, when the consequences are so big?"
Patrick looked at her. She was evidently suffering, and she looked so ill, so weak that he understood why the doctor thought it might be best for her to have peace. But to have to take such an irrevocable decision! Decision making had never been a strong point of his, and he desperately wanted to delegate responsibility for this to someone else- to Will, to one of the others, to the Empyreans. But he couldn't, could he? They were right, he did understand better than them what she had been through. And Ruth hadn't tried to escape from making difficult decisions, or tried to avoid the consequences. She had decided to be a hostage, and had taken the responsibility for that decision away from the others. And she had decided that the others should leave them, and had taken the responsibility for that too, giving them permission.
"I...I don't know," he said. "You're sure she won't recover?"
"As I said, there is always a chance," Grothorne said gently. "But I do not think she will."
"Would you be more certain if you waited longer?"
"The longer we wait, the weaker she grows, the more unlikely her recovery and the more she suffers."
"She wasn't afraid to die," Patrick said quietly. "She was afraid of the pain, but she had the courage to face it." He struggled with himself in silence.
"One hour," he said finally. "If she still shows no sign of recovery or waking in an hour, then you can give her the sedative." He looked up at the others. "Is that all right?" They nodded slowly.
"Very well," Grothorne said.
Maybe by then, Patrick thought, I will have the courage to say yes.
The story continues...
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