Cast Under an Alien Sun (Destiny's Crucible)

by Olan Thorensen

  “Again, how do you know what he told you is true?”

  “Because he described how the appendix should be cut out by surgery and what precautions to take. I wonder now at myself, but somehow—how I don’t know—I believed everything he told me. It just sounded so right. So logical. So explanatory of many things we don’t understand.” She paused. “So I authorized the surgery he recommended.”

  “Diera!” exclaimed a shocked Sistian. “Based only on Yozef’s statements, you performed surgery and cut out a patient’s . . . appendix?”

  “Yes. I spoke with Yozef at mid-morning, and we performed the surgery before midday. The patient woke about an hour after the surgery, and he was in less pain than before, even after being cut open, his appendix removed, and being sewn back closed. Before I left the hospital, he asked for food, talked to his family, and wondered how soon he could return home.”

  Diera looked at her husband. “Sistian, under normal circumstances it would be as if a miracle from God had happened. At least half of the people with this condition die, and the rest undergo agonizing pain and fever for sometimes weeks. This man wants to go home tomorrow!”

  “Isn’t that a good thing?”

  “Sistian, Yozef dropped this on me with no idea of its importance. It was just a trivial piece of information that was common knowledge with his people. Yet it was unknown to us here on Caedellium, and nothing like anything I’d heard when I was studying in Landolin. Granted, we still need to see if there are any side effects and if any corruption—or infection, as Yozef says—occurs. However, barring those, the patient will be considered cured within days. I then think of all of the patients with this same condition that we . . . I . . . lost over the years because of our ignorance.”

  “Diera, if all of this is true, I shouldn’t have to remind you of all of the patients you’ll save in the future.”

  “I realize that, dear. I honestly do. And I thank God for the knowledge Yozef shares with us. But there’s more. Yozef gave an explanation of why patients get worse and often die of this condition.”

  Diera went on to describe the concept of microscopic creatures that cause both infections and disease.

  “Well, this is more your field than mine, and maybe some of the scholastics’, but I don’t recall ever hearing about such tiny creatures.”

  “That’s because no one has.”

  “Then how do you know they exist?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m convinced. You’ve talked with Yozef. You’re as good a judge of people as anyone I know, and, frankly, I think I’m not too bad at it either. If anything, he seems naïve but honest. When you talk to him, and he drops these morsels of knowledge on us, it always seems without ulterior motive. It just seems right when you have time to think about it. And these ‘microorganisms,’ as he calls them. First, I’ve been sitting here thinking about it the last hour or so. It would explain so much. And in addition, he doesn’t just state their existence, he says how we can fashion a reverse telescope to see them.”

  “A reverse telescope?”

  “Yes. Instead of making things distant, you can make them appear closer. Yozef says by using different-shaped lenses, we can make small things appear larger. He’s going to talk to his workmen and set them the task of making what he calls microscopes.”

  Diera sighed. “I also have the intuition Yozef knows much more than he’s said so far, and although I need to continue talking with him, I already suspect our practice of medicine is in the process of nothing short of an epic change. Thus, all my emotions. Confusion. Wondering what obvious procedures we’ve missed and why we have thought our medical knowledge was so advanced. Wonder at what I saw today. Caution that I shouldn’t expect too much too soon, since only time confirms how well this new knowledge is put into effect. Surprise that this has hit me so hard. Hope for more knowledge we can help people with. Excitement at what may come. And—fear.”

  “Fear?”

  Diera nodded. “Fear my hopes are too high at the moment. Fear the patient may still die. Fear the appendix we removed is a necessary part of the body or mind, in spite of what Yozef says. Fear there may come such momentous changes that many, including even some of the medicants and the scholastics at St. Sidryn’s, will resist and condemn. Fear of exactly who and what is Yozef? The ether, and now this today? What more may come? We want to attribute such things to the grace of God, but could it be a clever ploy of the Evil One? Is this simply a case of Caedellium being so remote from the rest of Anyar that we are backward, or could it be Yozef is an agent of God? If so, to what purpose? Why now?”

  Sistian had no answers, nor did he think his wife was asking for them. She was recounting questions without answers. Questions that Sistian also would consider, along with many more in the days, months, and years to come.

  Dissemination

  In the following sixdays, Diera spoke with Yozef almost daily, probing for pieces of information. Yozef willingly offered suggestions, though often had no clues about practical matters, to Diera’s awkward gratification that the implementation was still dependent on her and the other medicants. Assuming the knowledge he claimed was accurate, an initially prodigious qualification neutralized the more they talked, Diera’s understanding of the functioning of the human body multiplied several-fold. So quickly did her confidence grow that she abandoned her initial reticence to bring in other medicants until she had more evidence about the accuracy of what Yozef was telling her. There was simply too much to think about. She knew she was risking resistance among the older medicants, so the first three she brought in to help were the two younger surgeons, Saoul Dyllis and Arnik Bolwyn, and Wilwin Wallington, the scholastic of the animals and the plants of Caedellium. She felt these three were among the more mentally flexible of the brothers and the sisters. Dyllis was skeptical at first but served as a good counterweight to Diera’s and Bolywin’s rising enthusiasm. It was brother Wallington who surprised her. While he was diligent in his common duties around the abbey complex, and no one doubted his commitment to his chosen specialty, he was never considered one of the abbey’s more illustrious staff members.

  Brother Wallington became Yozef’s adoring slave, once he was convinced by the first microscopes of the existence of a whole new realm of creatures previously unknown. He was endlessly enthralled by the multifaceted protozoans, while the two medicants were interested in bacteria. Wallington’s total acceptance of the concept of invisible-to-the-naked-eye creatures helped convince the other staff at the abbey.

  During the following months, Yozef’s discussions with Diera introduced an array of new ideas, some of which were adopted immediately, some slated perhaps to the future, and others proved impractical, either technically or because there was no scaffold of current Caedellium knowledge and custom to hang them on. Among those immediately workable, or with some reasonable development, were stethoscopes, Ringers solution, plasma for blood loss and shock, hypodermics, the possibility of blood transfusions (though only considering AB factors, not +/-, so only in emergencies), and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The last innovation met with significant trepidation, because it was viewed by many common people and even some medicants as reviving the dead, a power appropriate only for God—or possibly the Evil One, to create his demonic agents.

  Once Yozef convinced Diera of the possibility of microorganisms as a cause of corruption, the St. Sidryn's medicants began using Yozef’s suggestions about the surgical environment. He also suggested stronger acidic solutions once he remembered that an early antiseptic was carbolic acid, phenol by chemical composition. No Anyar versions of phenol were identifiable, and the easiest source Yozef could remember was the distillation of phenol from coal tar, a process not immediately possible. As substitutes, he suggested acetic acid (vinegar) and boric acid made from the mineral borax, available locally. In neither case could Yozef give advice on concentration, other than low, but Diera didn’t seem concerned about figuring out optimal concentrations.

  He
also championed ethanol. Since it was already being distilled as part of the ether production, source wasn’t a problem. He remembered it needed to be 70 percent ethanol in water to kill germs—something to do with attacking cell membranes more efficiently at that concentration, not that he tried to explain cell structure.

  He didn’t witness the introduction of more stringent asepsis, but from the Beynoms’ older son, Cadwulf, Yozef learned details of the storm ignited in getting medicants to change long-established traditions, especially the older medicants and those feeling threatened by an off-islander’s strange ideas. In the end, all but the most close-minded medicants admitted that the new aseptic conditions reduced infections, and only one medicant was so stubborn that Diera finally decertified him as a medicant anywhere in the district.

  Similar discord occurred in other Keelan Province districts before increased aseptic procedures spread to other provinces. The information dissemination was fueled by Diera sending reports to abbeys throughout Keelan to medicants she believed would be most open-minded about this flood of novel procedures and knowledge. From there, the knowledge spread throughout Caedellium, and the reputation and rumors about Yozef Kolsko added to those already circulating about ether.

  Yozef tried to be careful with what he revealed to Diera, for fear that too much information would raise worries as to who, or what, he was. Whenever the probing of Diera or the other medicants approached dangerous ground, he feigned ignorance. One strategy he adopted was to pretend some tidbit of knowledge just occurred to him, but that this was all he knew. While this didn’t satisfy the more insistent inquisitors, it usually ended a delicate line of probing. The inadvertent side effect, and one to which Yozef was oblivious until it was too late to squash rumors, was that Yozef was literally “hearing” the information. These whispers had consequences in times to come.

  Chapter 18: Supplicant to Tycoon

  In the months since his arrival on Anyar, Yozef had had no expenses. The abbey provided food, clothing, and shelter, and Carnigan paid at the pub. Introducing ether for anesthesia gave Yozef his first independent income.

  Abbot Beynom first mentioned charges for the ether. “All of our patients are expected to pay for their treatment, assuming they can afford the payments. If not, the payment is reduced or forgiven. The poppy extract had gotten so expensive that the abbey tried to absorb all of the cost, but that was becoming more difficult even before the Narthani cut off trade. Now, poppy extract is virtually impossible to obtain, no matter the price. It’s only reasonable that the cost of the ether should be included in what the patient pays.”

  The abbot raised an eyebrow at Yozef. “Do you have any thoughts about what the cost should be? It should cover the production and a small income for yourself.”

  “Sorry, Abbot. I’ve no idea about Caedellium or Keelan money. I would depend on your advice.”

  “I wondered about that myself,” Sistian smiled. “It’s quite simple. There are a few differences among the provinces, but most use the same system as Keelan.”

  The abbot reached into his desk and withdrew a small clinking sack from which he took out a handful of coins and spread them out on his desktop.

  “There are four coins, two silver and two gold. The small silver is one krun, large silver five kruns, small gold twenty kruns, and large gold hundred kruns.”

  Yozef had seen the coins in the pub but hadn’t noticed details until now. The sizes seemed standardized, and each coin had a number stamped on one side and a six-pointed star on the other.

  “What do the numbers and symbols stand for?”

  Sistian picked up a hundred-krun gold and pointed to the number. “The coins are made in Orosz City, the center of Orosz Province. Clans or individuals can take gold and silver there to be turned into coins. That’s to assure all coins are the proper size and weight. The number identifies a specific batch of coins, in case there’s a problem.” He turned the coin over. “The star is a general symbol of Caedellium. Coins from other parts of Anyar are sometimes used, though people are cautious about using them because we can’t be sure of the value of the gold and silver they’re made of. A few clans also have their own coins, but Keelan and most clans use the common krun coins made in Orosz City. There are also small copper coins for values less than a small silver one krun coin, but those aren’t made in Orosz City.”

  “What does a krun or a hundred kruns buy?”

  “One krun would buy a loaf of bread, a hundred krun a good set of clothes for a common clansman, and an average horse might cost five hundred krun.”

  “So, Abbot, what would you suggest for the price of the ether?”

  Sistian tilted his head up and stroked his beard. “Well, you’ll be selling mainly to abbeys in those small dark bottles. From what Diera says, there should be enough in each bottle for at least ten treatments. Let’s see . . . I think twenty krun per treatment would be reasonable, which would make it two hundred krun for a bottle.” He paused, switching stroking hands. “There’re fifteen abbeys in Keelan, so if each one bought one bottle, that would be three thousand krun.” He stopped speaking, his eyes widening.

  “My word, Yozef. I hadn’t realized, but the numbers might get quite high. I’d check with Diera, but our medicant facility is one of the larger, so we would use more bottles than the smaller abbeys. Also, as I remember you saying, the ether goes bad after a few months, so . . . let’s say an average of ten bottles per abbey per year.” He stopped, eyes widening more. “That’s thirty thousand krun a year! And the other provinces will use ether as soon as they hear of it and see it working for themselves!”

  The abbot looked at Yozef with a surprised expression. “You’re going to become wealthy, unless I’m mistaken, Yozef. Of course, you still have to pay your workers and buy supplies, but still . . .”

  Yozef listened to the abbot’s estimations and did his own in silence. Even if the abbot overestimated, it sounded as if any issues about supporting himself had just disappeared. His enthusiasm settled as a thought rose up. The abbey saved and took care of me when I first arrived. Yes, it’s part of their calling, but fair is fair. And, what about the glassblower and the distiller? They’d been supplying the workers and the materials.

  “Abbot Beynom . . . ,” he began.

  “Please, Yozef, Abbot Sistian is fine, or just Abbot.”

  “Abbot Sistian, I owe you and your people a great debt for caring for me when I arrived. Then there’s the help you gave in convincing the tradesmen to work with me on the ether when they and, let’s be honest, even you were uncertain whether I knew what I was talking about. A share of the coin we get from selling the ether needs to go to the tradesmen, and it’s only fair you also get a share.”

  Sistian smiled. “I accept, Yozef. I hesitated to say anything, since it seemed to conflict with the abbey’s mandate to serve. I can’t take coin myself, but I’m happy to accept it for the abbey.”

  Thank you, God, prayed the abbot silently. Once again confirmation of your command we care for our fellows. We cared for the strange man, and, as the Word says, “What you give without hesitation will come back to you many-fold.”

  “Shall we say,” said Sistian, “of the two hundred krun per bottle, the tradesmen will get forty krun and the abbey another forty? You need to talk with the tradesmen to work out paying your workers and buying supplies. Whatever that comes to, I think you’ll still keep a good portion of the two hundred krun per bottle.”

  Thus did Yozef achieve his first income on Anyar. The flow of krun was slow at first, with St. Sidryn’s ordering the first bottles. To celebrate that first purchase, Yozef took Carnigan, Cadwulf Beynom, Filtin, and all of his workers to the Snarling Graeko the same night and put the entire purchase price back into the local economy.

  Once more he was coinless, though only for a sixday, before an order for two bottles of ether came from the abbey in Clengoth, the district center. Within another sixday, four more orders arrived. As word spread, more orders arrived from more
distant abbeys in Keelan, from neighboring Mittack and Gwillamer Provinces, and later from more distant clans. Yozef was at a loss how to fill orders from other provinces, until approached by a traveling trader from Orosz Province. The trader had connections to other traders and proposed he could provide a distribution network for the ether. Yozef consulted Cadwulf and the abbot before accepting the trader’s proposal, with relief to be shed of that one task.

  At the same time, a second source of income developed. The local brewer, Lunwyn Galfor, produced a crude whiskey from wheat, helped by the escaped Preddi slave whose previous owner had produced alcoholic drinks in Preddi City. Wheat seed was germinated to release enzymes that broke down starch, a natural process that allowed the seedling to access energy stored as starch. By the brewer’s steeping the grain as mash for two to three days, the enzymes turned much of the starch into small sugars that could be fermented to produce ethanol. The brewer used a crude copper pot-still to batch distill to produce a liquid that was 25–30 percent ethanol. Based on Yozef’s success with ether distillation, the brewer sought Yozef’s help in developing a second distillation to increase the ethanol content of his drinks to 40–45 percent, comparable to Earth whiskeys. Yozef’s help garnered him a 10 percent share of the profits from whiskey sales within Keelan and exported to other provinces. Although his percentage share was less than with ether, and the price of ethanol per volume was much less than ether, the total volume of sales soon surpassed ether by orders of magnitude. Within two months, Yozef found himself with bags of coins in drawers and under his bed in the abbey room where he still slept.

  It was time to find a way to handle the coinage. He procrastinated for several sixdays until he came back to his room one evening to find that a drawer bottom had split under the weight of bags and coins scattered across the floor.