The Results of Belboz's Analysis

Checkers and Astra deposited five bags of blood on Belboz's table. Astra held Fred's hand - the pulse was steady, but faint. Checkers stared at Belboz, with nothing more to do but to see what the wizard was doing with the few drops of blood that he had given her. He seemed to be mixing some strange liquids with it. He looked at it the droplets under some weird mechanism. Belboz was looking into a long tube - she stole a glance over his shoulder, and it appeared to be splotches of red with weird shapes running through it, like little circles and rods. "He must be trying to divine the omens from my blood. How primitive. This is not encouraging." thought Checkers. She expected something more credible than the equivalent of reading the guts of an ox to make a decision.

Belboz had run his last test. He concluded:

1. Checkers' blood is not poisonous, but it does not contain all the things that human blood would. It will help, but Fred's body would have to work harder to make the missing substance.
2. Checkers' blood contains all the substances required for human use, but there are some poisons in there as well. I hope Fred has been temperate in his eating and drinking - his liver is going to have to work very hard to filter her blood.
3. Checkers' blood is a close match. A lot of sugar, though. Should provide an energy boost if Fred's body can handle it. I wonder if that is a racial trait, or if Checkers has a problem breaking down sugar?
4. Whoa! I cannot tell this from human blood. It will work just fine. I wonder how much difference there really is between Gliders and mankind?

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree

Display All 3 Links to this Episode