An Arm and a Leg

by Jayne Knox

Jack pitched face-first through the Dimensional Door. “Tastes like Earth grass,” he said, spitting out the alien herbage. He glanced around, making sure the Door was still there and that no one had come after him and Carol. The rules about transferring only one person at a time were strict, but Carol had gotten so weak that he couldn’t let her go alone.

Carol managed a faint laugh. “None for me, thanks. I’m not hungry.”

Jack scrambled to his feet with a sigh. Carol hadn’t been hungry since the virus took hold, and if this latest world didn’t hold a cure for her untreatable cardiomyopathy, he didn’t know how much more Door-Hopping she could stand.

She leaned on his arm, ashen-faced and out of breath. “Thanks, dear. Oh, you’re bleeding!”

Jack looked. Blood dripped from a deep gash in his hand. He swore. “And the first-aid kit’s out of bandages.”

“Maybe they can help.” Carol pointed. Four people came toward them, looking so ordinary that Jack felt himself despair. They’d find no miracle cures here.

One of the group, a man who, from the look of him, worked as a stunt double between modeling shoots, hurried forward, scowling. “Two at once? You’ll destabilize the Door if you both stay... Oh, you’re bleeding. Let me give you a hand.”

He detached his own at the wrist, and held it out to Jack.

* * *

It was a long walk back to the Changers’ village. The natives swapped out their limbs whenever they got tired, but for humans it was a grueling trek. Carol could never have managed it, so the Herculean Changer, Elrik, carried her.

It hurt to watch her nestle so trustingly in the handsome alien’s arms. (And who knew where those had been? Jack thought sourly.) The realizations that dawned on Jack during the long hike and the delicious meal their hosts provided afterward, hurt even more.

The Changers swapped body parts — anything but their brains — as easily as one would change a car tire, and they grew new ones almost as easily. A Changer — especially one as strong and healthy as Elrik — could provide Carol with a replacement organ without suffering at all. If she stayed, accepted the donation and received Changer treatment for the rest of her life, she’d soon be healthy.

But Jack couldn’t stay. His extra presence had already burdened the dimensional links. He could feel it in his own body, knew that existence was being strained with every second he lingered.

So, while Carol slept, he kissed her one last time and headed back to the Door, alone. He would give his life for Carol, but only Elrik could give her his heart.