"Would you know where to find the equipment you would need for a working 'office'?"
"Back on Earth, you mean?" Eric leaned forward eagerly.
"Yes, and no. Yes, to obtain the equipment you would need, and no, not to practice back on Earth."
"Where did you have in mind? Though we could use a facility here on Botany, with all these youngsters and oldsters needing effective dental care," Eric replied. "I used to specialize in orthodontics."
Zainal looked inquiringly at Kris.
"Orthodontics usually means repair work to crooked teeth and/or false ones."
"Dentures, please," Eric said with a friendly grin.
"False ones? Dentures?" Zainal didn't comprehend the distinction. "For when people are required to entirely replace the ones they've lost to either age or caries."
"Caries?"
"Dental decay," Eric replied quickly, nodding an apology at Kris. She gave him a quick flip of her fingers to accept his reply.
"Dental decay?" Zainal looked surprised.
"Don't you Catteni ever have tooth problems? Apart from losing the front ones in your brawls?"
"The only ones we lose are in combat," Zainal replied. "What other way is there?"
"Bad bite, poor nutrition, lack of calcium, pregnancy, too much refined sugar:" Eric shrugged as he listed the main causes.
"If we could obtain equipment for you, would you be willing to dentify: Catteni teeth?"
"I have nothing against your species," Eric said. Then his expression turned eager and his eyes glinted. "Mind you, I would never use my professional expertise to cause unnecessary pain. Though, until I got here to Botany, I might have entertained a few vengeful ideas from time to time."
"At mercy in your chair?" Kris asked, grinning at the thought of a Catteni bully in helpless jeopardy in a dental chair. Sometimes, ethics went the way of other civilized behavior.
"I admit to some rather fanciful daydreams at a particular time; however, that's not only immature but also against all dental ethics. From what I've seen of your people, they aren't much in need of my skills."
"What about cosmetic work?" Kris suggested, pointing to the tooth in her head that was in the same place as Zainal's broken one. "Ah, cosmetic work! That's something else again, and I fancy my-self quite skilful in both orthodontia and cosmetic repair."
"What would you also need besides the basic dental drill?" Kris asked.
"It would be quite a list," Eric said tentatively, but with a dawning eagerness in his expression.
"But you'd know where such supplies could be found on Earth?" Kris asked.
"I'd know where there used to be suppliers in the Manhattan area, certainly. Whether they're still there or not, I couldn't, of course, be certain."
"Of course."
There was a pause that Eric broke. "Does this have anything to do with the rumor I heard that Catteni were investing in gold caps?" Kris laughed, easing the tension that had been growing in her, partly because of the whole notion of having to ransom what was rightfully Earth's and partly because she was beginning to understand this bizarre element: providing a skill and treatment the Catteni certainly didn't have on their home world. Whatever worked!
"It does," Peter said.
Eric rubbed his hands on his thighs. "I am indeed your man, then, Easley, Zainal. And I'd be happy to repair that incisor of yours, Zainal, for all you've done for us." He jerked his damaged thumb at his chest. "Then you could see firsthand how skilled I am."
"We don't doubt your abilities," Dorothy said, "especially since you made those marvelous repairs to Brenda Samuelson's dentures." "The dentures were easy. All I needed was a decent adhesive." Eric twitched one shoulder. "So when do we go?"
"I suspect it is now necessary to figure out a flight plan," Zainal said, nodding to Kris, "to cover as much territory as we need to as quickly as possible. Please make a list of the items you would require. And where we'd need to go in this Manhattan..:'
"Also known as New York."
Zainal shot him a look. "Is Manhattan the only place to acquire what you need?"
"No, but it's the one I know best. And, if they haven't been demolished in the Resistance, I could quite honestly retrieve the equipment I had in my office."
"Please give me the location," Zainal said, holding his pencil over his pad and looking intently at Dr. Sachs for his answer.
"My office was in the main city, on Fifty-ninth Street at Colum-bus Circle."
"Fifty-ninth Street?" Peter echoed. "I don't think it still exists, Dr. Sachs. Would you have any other ideas?"
"Well, quite a few dentists had offices in the general area."
"If you will agree to accompany us on this 'adventure,"' Zainal said with a little chuckle, "I'm sure we can locate what you need to take with you."
"With me?"
"Yes, to Barevi," and before Eric Sachs could rattle off the questions that must have flooded his mind, Peter told him what had to be done and how Eric was essential to spurring the merchants to action. "By offering to those who want them immediate gold crowns?" Eric asked, his eyes merry with appreciation of the scheme. "I must ad-vise you that making a gold crown is not an 'immediate' proposition." "The simple fact that you are there and an expert would allow us to charge them not only for the metal necessary to make their teeth, but for the expert to do the work, and would provide another reason to barter for the goods we desperately need which they are holding back!" Eric was stunned by the explanation and then grinned broadly. "I like it. I like it. But as I said, it takes time to make proper crowns, and if I am to do the work, I insist on doing proper work."
"Of course, of course," Zainal and Peter agreed.
"I know there's gold available on Botany," Eric said, excitedly bouncing about on the chair, jotting down notes, "and platinum, too, I've heard." He rubbed his hands together enthusiastically before set ting down more scrawls which probably only he could read. "What I need more than anything," he flushed and grinned sheepishly, "more than the equipment, is certain materials without which I cannot succeed. Such as an alginate to take good impressions and accessories like the carrying trays to secure the impressions. The gold caps would take time to prepare. One has to pound the gold into fold leaf. Rather fun to do, actually, and oh, well, you don't need a blow-by-blow description of the process right now. But I remember the dental supply house I used, and quite possibly no one bothered looting such items."
"Alginate?" Dorothy asked. "Seaweed. We have seaweed in quantity."
"I'd also need a mixing gun to deliver the alginate where I need it." Eric flapped his hands. "And a whole lot of stuff if I'm to do this properly."
"How did you hear about the gold and platinum?" Zainal asked. "Same way I heard about gold crowns on Catteni teeth," Eric said. "Hey, could we get more than one set of office equipment? And find a few more dentists while we're about it?"
"And we will be about it!" Zainal said. He pushed back from the table and rose purposefully, gathering up his notes and the letter from Kamiton that he seemed to be rereading. "Kamiton will never know what hit Barevi." He grinned with total satisfaction at the prospect.
"Ahem, Zainal," Eric said, raising one finger to attract the Cattem's attention. "It would be useful if I had a trained dental assistant. Speed things up."
Zainal glanced at Peter. "Would you handle that detail, Peter? I'm going to draft the Catteni-speakers who are still here. We will have to go after some of the others who've gone to Terra. We can get what you need on that trip, too, Eric. Will you come with us?"
"Yes, and I think I'd better take some lessons in your language. I'll need to be able to give simple instructions to any patients you might wish me to attend."