Chapter Eleven
Why Do We Need So Many Doctors?
Philip groaned. “I am not an Adamis doctor. I’m an Octavian doctor, Jenna. There are Adamis doctors on this planet. Please, let me call one.”
“What are you so afraid of?” Jenna asked recklessly. “It’s not like you treated Rennett. You only examined him. You can’t be guilty of any kind of malpractice. You didn’t give him any drugs or perform any surgery on him.”
“Exactly! He needs both drugs and surgery!” Philip said loudly.
“Oh. Well, why didn’t you say so?” she asked, sounding remarkably reasonable, considering what she had put Philip through for the past few hours.
Jenna’s first step had been to have Rennett looked at by a doctor. The closest one to Jenna at that exact moment had been Excelyn, who was sitting exactly behind Jenna when they watched Sardius interrogate Rennett and Scion. However, the pink-haired diplomat had immediately shoved the task off onto her new husband. He had resisted, but she promised she’d insult him just once as a way of showing her gratitude since she was an old woman and she was going to fall asleep in the next twenty minutes whether she liked it or not.
True to her word, she didn’t make it to the end of the second interrogation.
In the present, Philip gave his recommendation. “Whatever you decide, Jenna, whether you crown him or not, you can’t fire this man into space. The inertia will kill him. I think the AAMC was hoping you would kill him. He has to stay on Octavia Prime for the rest of his life. He’ll never be well enough to leave.”
“Okay. Get him a doctor as soon as possible,” Jenna relented
“I know someone good,” Philip offered.
Jenna nodded and marched into the room where Philip had put Rennett down to rest. She sat next to his bed and stared at the old general until he woke up.
“Hi, Miss Fairchild,” he said, still a little fuzzy after what Sardius fed him the night before.
Jenna smiled. “How are you feeling? Are you feeling well enough to have a conversation with me about what’s going to happen next?”
An army man, he would have nodded if his head had been detached.
Jenna began and hoped that she sounded gentle. “Listen, the first thing you need to know is that no matter what happens, you can never leave Octavia Prime.”
He jolted up but didn’t get all the way up before something inside him cracked and Jenna had to ease him onto his back. “Why not?”
“I’m sorry. You aren’t well enough for space travel and you’re unlikely to be well enough to travel to space again. Regardless, I’m willing to crown you if you can meet a few of my demands.”
“What are they?”
“You didn’t come off great in your interview with Celestina. There was a lot of negative talk over social media about your appointment. But I think I can raise your popularity if you let me control the narrative. I’m going to write something for you to read to the public that will change everyone’s opinion of you. I’m going to write something very sentimental that will win over the hearts and minds of everyone who watches TV. In exchange for my prettying up your image, you will never go on TV again without my permission. You’ll never give a quote to a reporter or allow anyone to quote you for the rest of your life.”
“That’s a little harsh,” he rasped, again trying to sit up in bed.
Jenna watched him struggle for a moment before offering him a hand, “It is the only thing of consequence I need from you. I won’t try to control your voting. You can vote however you like. Satisfy your AAMC masters or don’t. It will be none of my business. More importantly, I need to control the image of the diplomats that represent the Adamis to the Octavians. I will not have you undercutting my support for this program. If you decide to take me up on my proposal, you’ll be given the Waterfall Palace with servants to see to your every need for the rest of your life.”
He looked at Jenna and with that one look, she knew that he had never been offered anything close to that good from the AAMC.
“What happens if I refuse?”
“I’ll enter into talks with the AAMC on your behalf because, as I said, you cannot be removed from this planet. Your heart won’t take it. You came here on their orders, and I’ll make sure they pay for your housing here on Octavia, though I cannot promise to secure you luxury.”
He frowned. “I need to talk to Admiral Denver before I can give you an answer.”
“We’ll arrange for that immediately. I don’t know his schedule or how easy he’ll be to get in touch with.”
“I’ll get him,” Ixy said over the loudspeaker.
“I’ll leave it to you.” Jenna got up to leave, gave Rennett a solute that she hoped didn’t come off as pretentious, and left the room.
***
“How’s it going with Phane?” Jenna asked Ixy, as soon as she was certain she wouldn’t be overheard. Phane was the pilot Ixy had found for Jenna to interview when she said she wanted someone who was an Adamis pilot who butted heads with the AAMC. It had taken the PA some time, but she’d finally found someone who checked all of Jenna’s boxes.
“I love him,” Ixy said like her mouth was watering. “He’s the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever met.”
“He’s crashed enough starships to meet your approval?” Jenna sniggered.
“No. His record shows that he’s never crashed. He burns his ships out by running them too hard, but he’s never crashed. He’s the best of the worst of the Adamis pilots. Obviously, he’s always in trouble with the AAMC even though they invite him to do freelance work whenever there’s an emergency.”
“Have you got a picture of him?”
Ixy cackled. “I would never get you a funny-looking guy, Jenna. I know how important appearances are for you when you put everything up in front of Josh’s camera.”
“Put the picture up in my bedroom,” Jenna said, closing the door with a heavy click.
The picture came up.
He was less human-looking than most of the Adamis Jenna had met since coming to outer space. His eyes were too big. They were so big, the black surfaces reflected like twin mirrors. The rest of his face was gaunt. His neck was so thin that his tendons and voice box were practically on display.
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The very sight of him disturbed Jenna. She wanted to send money monthly so someone could improve the living conditions of his village. Except, he was a starship pilot, so he didn’t have a village that needed a well.
“Is this just what space travel does to humans?” Jenna asked, her voice little more than a whisper.
“Yes. This is what Scion wants to avoid,” Ixy replied.
“Is there a picture of Phane from before he spent all his time in space?”
“No. He’s always lived in outer space.”
Jenna rapidly snapped her fingers. “I have a question. If Octavian spaceships are filled with water, does that mean that they don’t lose muscle mass as fast as humans do in outer space?”
“Yes. There is less pressure bearing down on the crew of a spacecraft than there is in the ocean because there’s no gravity, but having to push against the water in order to move around in the spaceship saves a lot of trouble when the Octavians finish their tours and return to the surface.”
Jenna remembered Fallcet telling her that the Adamis were changing the way they did space travel so that the Adamis pilots had to live in the water too. If the way the universe did business changed too quickly, what would happen to someone like Phane?
Just then, Jenna heard a sound behind her.
She pivoted to see Misha standing at the entrance to the closet. Her button-looking eyes were even larger than usual. “He’s so beautiful,” she said wistfully.
Jenna hid her annoyance and addressed Ixy. “Obviously, he can’t come here as he is now. Is there any way to help him with his body here on the surface?”
“Oh, sure,” Ixy said. “It all depends on how drastic you want to be. Of the cheap and temporary options, we can hook him up to an exoskeleton that will move his limbs for him. Though, he will have to be slightly hopped up on drugs to stop him from vomiting. When you’re used to living in zero gravity, you get used to spinning around all the time. Staying relatively still on the surface of a planet makes you sick. He’s sure to throw up a lot.”
“How does the exoskeleton work?”
“Well, either he can control it with his eye movements and button pads he can wear on his palms, or they can put a needle in the back of his head into his brainstem and he can take control of the exoskeleton in the same way he would control his own body, by thinking of what he wants to do and then the machine providing the strength for the motion instead of his body.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Jenna said, turning to look at the star-struck Misha who was gazing at the screen without blinking.
Ixy answered, “It’s dangerous to keep an implant like that in place for longer than two weeks. If it’s for a shorter time period than that, it’s completely within acceptable risk levels.”
“What are the more expensive options?” Jenna asked.
“There’s only one: a muscle transplant.”
“That sounds horrible.”
“Oh, it isn’t. They grow the muscles in labs. They’re compatible with every kind of Adamis and every blood type. They’re not even the expensive part. From a money grubber perspective, it costs the same amount of capital to raise broccoli. The problem is the surgery. It’s long and it has to be done in eight sessions. It’s not painful. It’s expensive. Doctors who can work that kind of witchcraft cost a fortune and the only doctor on Octavia Prime who can do it is… drum roll please… Philip’s mother, Brazel.”
“Crap,” Jenna mouthed almost soundlessly. “I pissed her off recently, didn’t I?”
“Well, you were instrumental in her son remarrying her least favorite old bag. It’s no secret where Philip gets his good looks. You are not going to be able to get along with her easily.”
“Can we import another doctor?” Jenna asked, rubbing her nose bridge while Misha began drooling on the tiling.
“Not without Dr. Brazel approving their permit to perform that surgery on Octavia Prime,” Ixy said with an unconcerned yawn.
“Have you spoken about this with Phane? Does he have an opinion?”
“He sure does. He says he was born in outer space, and raised on the space station Paramour. Just to bring you up to speed, that station has the lightest gravity in the cosmos. He says that if you can’t find a way to make him comfortable on Octavia Prime, he doesn’t want to sign up.”
“So, he wants the surgery?”
“Yes, he wants the surgery because there is no other way to make him comfortable on the surface indefinitely. He wants to try living on the surface of a planet to see what all the fuss is about. What do you want to do?”
Jenna thought about it for a moment and then said, “Any chance we could romance Dr. Brazel?”
“I know exactly what you’re thinking. You want to invite her here, wine and dine her, show her the greatness of the program, and win her over. But with Smoothie gone, it’s impossible.”
“I think you should send her a present,” Misha said suddenly, interrupting their conversation with her squeaky suggestion.
Jenna and Ixy were both taken aback.
“A present?” Jenna reiterated.
“Yes. I could make her a dress,” Misha offered, her face flushed. “If we made her a really beautiful dress that fit her in all the right places, with your compliments, she might agree to do the surgery. My skills are the best on the planet and if my doing it brought that man to Octavia Prime, it would be my pleasure.”
“Wait, Misha,” Jenna said, rushing to her. “This man is part of a very secret plan. I may as well tell you that the pretense I’m using to bring him here is that I’ve proposed marriage to him.”
“What?” she gasped. “But what about Ryatt? What about Sardius? What about Favel?”
Jenna facepalmed herself. “I have no intention of marrying Phane, even though that is what I am planning to tell everyone. I just can’t bring him here saying that I’m going to crown him. He’s on the other side of the universe and will have to pass many AAMC outposts to get here. If he says he’s coming here to become a diplomat, that’s going to cause a rash of complications. The AAMC guys will try to stop him, maybe even kill him. It’s way easier to say he’s going to become my husband while he travels. I can do whatever I want with him when he gets here, but until I work all that out, I can’t have you developing feelings for him.”
“Huh?” Misha mewed weakly, having fallen back into a daze staring at Phane’s picture.
Jenna grabbed her stylist by the shoulders. “If you’re infatuated with him, that might be very bad, not just for him but for you and me. I want us to stay friends and when you see what he’s like as a diplomat, you might not like him at all.”
“Not to mention that the eight surgeries will dramatically change how he looks, Misha,” Ixy said over the loudspeaker. “He won’t look like this when the doctor is finished with him.”
Misha looked around like she was searching for someone to help her understand what was happening. The only other person in the room was Jenna. “How will he change?”
“I… I can’t tell you. I don’t know. The only thing I can tell you is that you cannot pursue him romantically. He’s not for you. I’m bringing him here to fit him as a cog as part of my diplomatic plan. He’s special because he’s an Adamis pilot who has worked his whole career in space and he has been censored by the AAMC at least a dozen times. He’s someone who will have an opposing opinion to the AAMC guys, and I need to hear what he has to say.”
The stylist smiled. “That sounds really noble.”
Jenna almost facepalmed herself again. “Did you hear what I just said? You can’t like him. You can’t get close to him. If you do anything to get near him when he’s here, I will ship you off to Celestina’s until he’s done his job.”
“That seems kind of drastic, but if you’re only shipping me as far as Celestina’s, then that means you’re planning on housing him here? In the Dahlia Palace?” Misha pieced together with a hand on her hip.
“I mean business. I’d love your help with the dress for Brazel, but if you even make goo-goo eyes at Phane… if I can even get him here… before I give you the green light, I won’t look on that kindly. It could ruin my plan. I don’t know how long I will have to pretend that he’s my fiance.”
Misha moved her eyes between the picture of the man on the wall and Jenna. “I don’t like the way you’re talking. You talk to other people like this, Jenna, not to me.”
Jenna’s shoulders drooped. “I’d love to keep on talking sweetly to you, but if you mess up my diplomatic mission… you’ll find out how nice I am being right now. This is deadly serious. Ixy, how much will his surgery cost if I can get the doctor to do it?”
Ixy said a number that was four times Misha’s yearly salary. Both Jenna and Misha cringed.
“Look, I won’t have another chance at this. I need this guy and I need you to promise me that you won’t make a play for him until I give the word. You also need to understand that I may never give the word.”
Misha stared. “This must be serious.”
“He’s very important,” Jenna reiterated.
Misha groaned and then gave her promise. Ixy found Brazel’s measurements by capturing a recent picture of her and doing the math. Then the two of them went to Misha’s workroom to figure out what kind of dress would make the doctor lose her mind. That meant Misha left the room alone while Ixy’s voice changed speakers to keep up with the stylist as she walked.
Sardius came in after Misha left.
He smiled at Jenna. “What was Misha doing in here?”
“Trying to ruin everything,” Jenna said with a sigh.