“How are you feeling?”
“Fine, thanks,” she opened her eyes and noticed a gloomy expression on his face. “Did something happen?”
The earthling explained the situation in short and the girl sighed heavily.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the consequences of the fall?” asked the young man with reproach after a short silence.
“What for? We were on a mission that I could handle. If the situation had been more serious, I’d have definitely told you.”
“Ligament rupture is not a serious situation?!” said the young man indignantly.
“There’ three minutes and twenty seconds left to full tissue recovery,” reported the medical programme.
“What do you think?” smiled Lora on hearing the forecast.
In response Derek scowled even more and sat in an armchair nearby.
“So, you also risked your life,” he concluded.
“I wouldn’t call my actions risky, but rather rational.”
“I think Paul thought differently. He was very worried about your condition.”
“Please, don’t get it wrong but the crew, left on the shuttle, always monitors the physical condition of those who go on a mission. Paul knew about my injury from the very beginning…”
“So, the time when I didn’t want to leave the ship, he deliberately drew my attention to that,” realized Derek, “Very clever…”
The girl nodded.
“You had to be persuaded…”
“I don’t understand… We had a chance to save those three till the last moment… But we just left them to die…”
“The chance to save them was very small, in contrast to the high possibility of being killed ourselves.”
“This is selfish!” said Derek passionately.
“This is rational,” the girl answered quietly.
“Your rationality is a synonym of indifference!?” said the young man with resentment.
Lora shook her head and responded with a question.
“I don’t understand what’s so outrageous about me wanting to save my own life? Or, my life should be less valuable for me than the lives of those Tarians?”
Derek was ready to say something but stopped suddenly. The question hovered in the air for a while confusing him. The recovery programme with a characteristic squeaking sound completed its work and allowed Lora to sit. Now she perched at the edge of the capsule, her legs dangling, and watched closely at her opponent, who was still puzzled.
“So,” he finally spoke, “you believe that your life is more valuable than the life of the others’?”