Lian put his hands on his hips. "Well, maybe if more people went to the dragon fields they wouldn't have people dying."
"Hey, they could've brought their injured here," El pointed out.
"Would you have? If the people who are supposed to take care of you really hope you don't live, would you trust them with your health?" Lian raised a brow at El's statement.
El bit his lip. "I suppose not."
An idea formed in Lian's mind. "What is your schedule like today?" Often, prejudices had a lot to do with lack of exposure.
"It's pretty light today. I'm supposed to help pick herbs in the medic gardens but after that I have the afternoon off," El confessed.
"Good. I'm going to check out my lab then go to the dragon fields." Lian would get El to go with him and help him over his issues. El seemed like a nice guy unlike Bourne.
El frowned. "What lab?"
"My lab. The one promised to me by the medical council if I came here." Lian's temper began to spike when he realized El had no idea what he was talking about.
El shifted uneasily on his feet. "I don't know if Bourne set up a lab for you or not."
"I'll talk to you later," Lian said abruptly. It wouldn't do any good to snap at El it wasn't his fault.
Lian took the world's fastest shower, threw on some clothes and stormed out of his room. "I thought I said I'd talk to you later." He ignored El jogging behind him.
"I'm a witness to make sure Bourne doesn't kill you," El said, panting.
After asking a few people in the hall, he found Bourne in his office, a sterile white room with equally cold metal furniture. If Bourne's goal was to make people feel uncomfortable, it probably worked, but Lian's anger ate away any unease he might have.
"I don't believe you have an appointment Dr Blythorpe," Bourne said with a disapproving look.
"I've come to inquire about the location of my lab. Dr Ellerby isn't aware I have one." Lian cast a quick glance at El, hoping the man didn't hold Lian's words against him.
Bourne pushed around the com unit on his desk. "Upon further investigation, I decided a lab would be too expensive to set up. I'm sure you can make do with what we have around here." Bourne gave Lian a look as if the matter was settled.
Lian pulled his handheld communicator out of his pocket and dialed, putting it on speaker.
"Hello, Medical Commission. Dr Joseph Staller's office, Lacey speaking."The secretary had the peppiest voice Lian had ever heard.
"Hi, Lacey. Could you let Joe know Lian Blythorpe would like to speak with him?" Joe Staller had been Lian's mentor when he first joined the medics.
Bourne turned pale.
"Immediately, Dr Blythorpe."The peppy voice turned even warmer.
"Is that necessary?" Bourne protested.
"Hello, Lian,"Joe's deep voice boomed across the receiver."How are you doing on Dragait, my boy?"
"There seems to be a misunderstanding, sir. Dr Bourne doesn't have a lab ready for me and doesn't feel it's worth the expense to furnish me with one. I have him on speaker phone now." Lian didn't even look at Bourne, he was too angry with the man.
Joe's warm voice turned cool."I see. Dr Bourne, can you hear me?"
"Y-Yes, sir."
"I know we sent you extra money to build Dr Blythorpe's lab as requested by the leaders of your planet. If he doesn't have one it means you've done something with that funding. Expect a full investigation team to arrive in two days. Lian?"Joe snapped.
"Yes, sir?" It took effort to keep the glee out of his voice, but Lian thought he did it well.
"Go ahead and start collecting your research data. I'm sure we can have something ready for you within the week."Joe's short tone indicated he'd already moved on to solving the problem.
