My legs swung over the edge of the exam table restlessly. I glanced between the paladin looming over me, and the doctor rummaging through drawers set into the walls. “Everything is most certainly not as I left it. I knew I should never have let those cleaners into my medical bay,” the latter muttered under their breath.

I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “So are you like... gonna watch me all the time?”

“Captain Harlyle tasked me with keeping you out of trouble,” the paladin replied, voice as spine-chilling as ever.

I flinched. “Does your voice have to be like that? Is it like, a setting that you can change, or...?” I trailed off as they slowly stepped closer until they were looming over me. “Hi?”

“Did you really come to us from the void?” they demanded.

I was saved from having to lie as Laurie clapped their metallic hands. “Why are you still here? I don’t need you anymore, go away.”

“I was ordered to keep the stowaway out of trouble,” Apollyon said by way of defence, still standing over me threateningly. I thought back to the paladin by the ascender bay, whose grip crushed my bones. The armor was the same; this one could kill me without a second thought, and it probably wouldn’t even get in trouble.

Laurie’s presence at my side shook me from the memory. “I will call your owner on you,” they threatened.

Apollyon seemed to consider this briefly before pushing off from the exam table and trudging wordlessly out of the room. Only once the door shut behind them did I feel any relief.

“Good riddance,” I sighed. “That thing is so... intense.”

The doctor nodded mechanically. “Mhm, mhm, what a fascinating opinion. Lie back and hold still.” I noticed an injector in one of their hands, while with the other they were pulling a rail-mounted device into place above me.

“What’s in the injector?” I asked, shrinking away from them slightly. I wasn’t about to consent to be microchipped.

Laurie looked down at the device in their hand, then back at me. “It’s an indicator.”

I blinked cluelessly.

They went on slowly, as if they assumed I were an idiot. “It’s a mix of chemicals that react in different ways to different wavelengths of radiation.”

“So it’s like a dye? You see where it goes with that machine?” I clarified, pointing to the device suspended above me.

“No,” they replied flatly. “But... close enough for a basic understanding, I suppose.”

Satisfied with the answer, I laid back on the padded exam table.

Laurie pressed the injector to my thigh, and held it there until it was empty, then passed the spent injector to their tail, which placed it on a wheeled table nearby. After the initial stab I felt the liquid slowly spreading through my tissue, burning and stinging as it went, but the pain subsided before it reached past my hip.

Laurie stepped back, and tapped a command into their wrist-mounted PDA. My skin tingled as radiation washed over me, but it was probably psychosomatic. They stared at the data readout on their wrist intently, and after a few moments let out a neutral “Huh.”

“Is something wrong?” I asked, propping myself up on my elbows to see them better, and immediately regretting it.

“Do you have any augments?” Laurie asked.

I shook my head. “Nope! I’m one hundred percent all-natural bast,” I replied as rehearsed.

They studied the readout in silence for another minute, in which time I fidgeted with my makeshift splint. I regretted that too.

“Sure,” Laurie interjected, looking away from their precious data. “I can deal with this later. For now, let’s get that hand taken care of.” They crossed the room and bent low to access a locker beneath their work counter. As they walked away I got a better look at the logo on the back of their labcoat, a blue X with a snake coiled around it. After some aggressive rummaging, they returned to set three prosthetic arms of varying designs on a rolling table. “I recommend this model for a laborer. Its grip strength is double that of the average organic hand, useful for the work you’ll be doing,” they said, indicating the one in the middle. “Though any of the three would be an excellent investment.”

“Uh...” I stared at the cybernetic hands, trying to figure out why they would be presenting them to me. “Is it really that bad?” I finally asked.

“Bad?” the doctor asked indignantly. “These models are of superior quality. No Xenolife upgrade is ‘bad’.”

I raised my hands innocently, but kept them close in case they got choppy. “No, not the cybernetics, they look really great! I meant my injury. Isn’t it just broken?”

“Yes, and broken bones take months to heal. This is the most economical option for one in your position,” they reasoned.

“How much is the arm?” I asked hesitantly.

“Fifty thousand credits,” they replied matter-of-factly. “With installation costs, seventy five thousand. It will, however, heal in only two days, saving you months of lost wages.”

I scratched the back of my neck anxiously. “I don’t even know what my wages are yet. Is that like... a lot of money?”

Laurie shrugged. “Not for me.”

I politely pushed the table of prosthetic hands back towards the doctor. “Isn’t there a less... invasive option?”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Laurie stared at me, lips pursed. The apertures of their eyes whirred as they narrowed, exposing only pinpricks of shiny black glass. “Yes,” they tersely replied. “Bone regeneration therapy. Two hundred thousand credits.”

“Don’t you have like... a cast or something?” I’d never broken a bone before, but I remembered seeing characters wearing casts after getting beat up in cartoons. It was worth a shot at least.

“That option would take a long time to recover from, and it would provide no long-term benefit to your overall function. In fact, your hand may function worse if you choose not to pursue treatment,” Laurie explained.

“But how much would it cost?”

Laurie exhaled loudly through their nose. “Five thousand, all told.”

“I’d like that option, please,” I requested.

“Investment in your healthcare future is never wasted,” the doctor warned.

I smiled politely.

“Fine. I will print you a cast.” They angrily stormed over to another cabinet, then after rummaging through it, another one, then a drawer, then another cabinet.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“No!” they snapped. “This place is all out of order!”

“Can I help?”

Their head whipped around, and they fixed me in their icy stare. “Why?” they asked suspiciously.

“You look like you’re having trouble?” My ears flicked irritably. I was grateful to be alive and all, but did everyone have to be so... abrasive?

Laurie shut the cabinet they were searching forcefully, leaving behind a hand-shaped dent in the metal. “An assistant is no longer in the company budget,” they replied coldly.

I shrugged. “I’ll help out anyway, if you like. I’m sure my pay on the reactor crew will be enough to keep me afloat.”

Laurie looked around the room furtively, having to turn their head dramatically to do so. “Are you a spy?” they asked seriously.

“No, I don’t think so...?” I replied cautiously.

The silence hung heavily in the air. My tail swished anxiously behind me. I caught it in my good hand, and forcefully laid it across my lap.

Laurie looked back at their own tail, limp behind their back. “Yours moves on its own?” they asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Does yours not have a mind of its own?”

“It is fused to my central nervous system,” they replied, then clarified: “No, it does not.”

I shrugged. “Must be a bast thing. Because I was born with it and all.”

“How much do you know of your subspecies, the bast?” Laurie skeptically asked.

“Not much,” I admitted. “There aren’t many of us left, I think. Growing up there were only a few of us around.”

“So you do remember where you came from?”

The back of my neck burned, but my blood ran cold. I attempted to say something, anything to cover up my mistake, but all that came out was “No! I mean, um... some, but um... I have a concussion right?”

Laurie smirked, and noisily crossed their arms over their chest. “I do not believe in visitors from the void. I believe what you are is much more interesting than some mystical mumbo jumbo.” They paused to let their declaration sink in. “You may help me with my studies, and in exchange I will tell you about your people. I will keep your secret, as well.”

I sighed with relief, and winced.

“Try not to do anything that will agitate your broken ribs,” Laurie advised. “Since you insist on the cheapest of medical care, you’ll have to wait six weeks before they’re healed.” They opened another cabinet, seemingly at random, then pulled out a large, boxy device and set it on the counter. They connected its cord to an outlet in the wall, then pressed their left palm to a scanner. The machine chimed merrily, then began to whir.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“This is a Spidersilk Autoprinter. It weaves a proprietary fiber into whatever shape its told. I haven’t used it in... many revolutions,” Laurie replied. “It should still work. Old machines like these rarely fail.”

“How come you don’t use it anymore?” I asked.

“Because it doesn’t repair damage. It relies on the body healing itself, which is an incredibly slow and inefficient process that results in a sloppy finished product,” Laurie ranted.

“So why tell me about it at all? Why agree to use it?”

“You ask a lot of questions,” Laurie observed.

“I like to understand the way things work,” I shot back.

They considered my reasoning. “I’m curious to see how your body will heal on its own.”

I tipped my head to the side quizzically. “What makes my body so special?”

“We’ll see,” they replied ominously as they carefully began to unwrap my sweatshirt from my wrist. The candy bars I swiped fell noisily to the floor. My ears flattened with embarrassment as they picked them up. “I won’t tell anyone about this either, but I’m keeping the spicy udon bar. You can’t get these anymore.”

I shrugged. “Enjoy it.”

“I will.” They poked gently at my broken wrist, then suddenly took my hand and yanked it back.

A fresh surge of agony raced up and down my arm, accompanied by the taste of blood as I inadvertently bit my tongue. “What was that for?” I demanded.

“I had to reset the fracture so it would heal straight. I had to re-break it slightly, but since you requested cheap care, I determined surprise to be the best anaesthetic.”

“Thanks, I guess?” I tried not to look at the swollen, lumpy tissue around my wrist.

The machine chimed again, and Laurie opened it up to retrieve a gray fingerless glove in the shape of my arm. I bit down on my wrist to avoid further damaging my tongue, and held out my broken wrist to them. It was a struggle to get the tight-fitting, barely-elastic device on, and by the time it was in place the fur on my cheeks was freshly soaked with tears.

“Thank you,” I whispered hoarsely.

Laurie nodded curtly, then offered me a bottle of pills with their tail. “Take these for the pain. Don’t worry, they’re the cheapest kind I have in stock.”

I nodded, and took one immediately. “Is that all, Doctor?”

The door to the medical bay slid open, and the fiery haired woman from the bridge barged in. She looked down at my cast. “Whoa. That’s retro. I guess you’re starting out on light duty then, huh Rook?”

“I guess,” I replied noncommittally. “Do I have to start now? I could really use a shower and some sleep first.”

“Of course. I’m told experiencing the void takes a lot out of a person. Who knows how long you were in there, anyway.” She turned to Laurie. “Is he cleared to leave, Doc?”

They waved her away dismissively. “This interaction has taken enough of my time already. Go away now.”

“Come along, Rook. I’ll introduce you to your new roommate!”

I gathered my sweatshirt and my remaining food, and once again followed a friendly stranger into the unknown.