Talrun

1. Andrea-2

The transport was smooth and spacious, much like the trains back on Earth. In fact, it seemed like the entire city ran on a kind of tram system. The intricate and colorfully painted decor on the sides of the transport showed that it’d been here before the occupation.

Tasha and some of my other colleagues made conversation with the Mordanians, but I wasn’t feeling talkative. Instead, I took in every detail I could of the city. A book and series of videos couldn’t tell me what it was really like.

The place was crawling with Mordanians, sometimes literally. Some of the original buildings now had silvery scaffolding rounding the edges of the corners. These had been built by the Mordavians, who skittered up them not unlike spiders.

The native people of this planet were the Daqtarians, a humanoid species with skin colors ranging from forest green to deep blue, though I occasionally saw a lighter green or more purpley individual. I counted nearly two Mordanians for every Daqtarian, plus a variety of other species, such as humans. I didn’t know the name of some—small fluffy brown creatures scurried around in packs, and tall lavender-skinned finned aliens walked elegantly through the crowds.

I couldn’t help but wonder how the Daqtarians felt, to see their city—no, planet—literally taken over by an alien species. It couldn’t be good.

Before I could get lost in my ponderings we arrived at the hospital, a tall and beautiful structure that wouldn’t have looked out of place in old world Europe. Ivy crept up the reddish walls alongside the silvery, rounded Mordanian scaffolds.

There was a garden out front which I was pleased to see had been maintained. I didn’t recognize any of the foliage, but I could smell how lush it was and how fragrant the flowers were. With a pang of sadness I thought about how Daqtar could have been a popular tourist destination for humans. The gardens, the forests, the beautiful architecture… I imagined it would be a wonderful place to live.

Would have been. The Daqtarians didn’t look happy now.

We followed Hissirin into the main entrance of the hospital, and once I was inside I immediately saw why we were needed.

It was hectic. And I’d spent much of my residency in the ER of a major city hospital, so I knew a thing or two about what “hectic” meant.

“This is Hesqa Ruldinar, director of the hospital,” said Hissirin, waving an arm toward a Daqtarian woman who approached us with a smile stretched tight. Her close-cropped hair was the same shade of twilight blue as her skin, but her eyes were a piercing ice blue.

“We’re glad to have you here,” she said, in what struck me as a perfunctory tone of voice. I couldn’t imagine she had much emotional bandwidth left over for greeting us.

“Let us know how we can help,” said Tasha, getting right to business. “In fact, I think most of us should be ready to get started today, even, isn’t that right?” She glanced around at us and we nodded. The ride from Earth had been a week long and we were itching to get into action.

“Good,” said Hesqa, turning to another Daqtarian waiting behind her. “Burnal? Let’s get these doctors situated in their quarters.” She turned back to us. “After you’ve settled in, Burnal will start with your assignments.”

“Perfect,” said Tasha.

Burnal led us to a wing of the hospital set aside for staff quarters, explaining that it was originally meant to be a place where family members could stay if a loved one was a patient here. Now, no room could be spared for such luxuries, and the staff were so busy that a lot of them had elected to move in.

The Daqtarian’s long, grass green hair swayed prettily as she led us down a corridor. “These rooms will be yours,” she said. “Six on each side, just the right number. I’ll be back in a half hour to collect you, if that’s alright?”

“That’s great,” said Tasha, and I could tell she was trying to put the Daqtarians at ease with her demeanor. Their jobs couldn’t be easy, what with the occupation and its political maneuvering and higher than usual number of patients.

After Burnal left, we all picked rooms. They seemed virtually identical, though I got one at the end of the hall, farthest from the common room area.

I was glad to see this part of the building was free of Mordanian influence. There were plants in the rooms and beautiful woven rugs, and I could almost pretend I was at a hostel in some ancient city back home on Earth, if it weren’t for the starkly different cityscape outside.

My closest friend, Linda, peeked her head in. “These rooms are nice, aren’t they?” she said, looking around mine. “I guess they’re all the same.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “If this situation wasn’t so dangerous, I could almost be on vacation.”

Linda laughed. “Yeah, like somewhere on the Mediterranean coast. I can see it.” She walked in and sat on my bed as I took my clothes and put them in a cabinet. “So, how do you feel about your first trip as part of Boundless?”

“Nervous,” I said honestly. “I mean, terrified. We should be fine, right? But it sure doesn’t seem that way.”

Linda shrugged. “I’ve been on half a dozen trips and I’m still in one piece. But it does always seem like things could go to s**t at any moment. The situation here is tenuous. As long as the Mordanians feel like they’re winning, we’ll be fine.”

“But, we don’t really…” I lowered my voice. “It’s not right, what they’re doing…”

I recalled a history course from undergrad, where I’d learned about Earth’s past, a saga rife with the shadows of imperialism. Humans had moved past it, recognizing that on the galactic stage, we were a species united. We were ready to stop exploiting each other. But the galaxy itself hadn’t learned the same lesson.

“No,” agreed Linda, “it’s not. But the most we can do here is just help the Daqtarians. And, I guess, the Mordanians who find their way here. But the Mordanians seem to have their own fancy, private hospitals, so we’ll mostly be helping the Daqtarians.”

“I’m fine with that,” I said, frowning at the thought of dealing with creatures that were far too much like spiders for my liking.

But the Daqtarians needed our help badly. Since so many of their own resources and medical staff had been diverted to serving the Mordanians, they were in dire need of competent doctors to help their own people, who suffered longer wait times and a lower quality of care.

“Linda? Andrea? Burnal’s back,” came Tasha’s voice.

I slid the drawer shut and closed the door behind me as we left my room.

Burnal and Tasha were waiting up ahead. Burnal had brought a box of what appeared to be tablets, as well as a box of hats and red scarves. “I’ve already loaded a profile on these for each of you,” she said. “They have your case loads and all associated patient information, as well as lists of staff and maps of the hospital should you need them. Our administrative staff will be standing by to help you as you integrate. These hats and scarves identify you as doctors.”

“Thanks very much for your help, Burnal. I’m sure with your hospitality we’ll be up to peak efficiency in no time,” said Tasha with an encouraging smile.

Burnal returned the smile, but it faltered. “We’ll need it,” she said. “It’s just… it’s bad. Most of us haven’t gotten much sleep, and the Daqtarians, my people…” She shook her head, as if she realized she’d revealed too much. “We need help.”

“That’s what we’re here for,” said Tasha. “I guess we can get started then.”

Burnal took a deep breath and nodded, her green hair falling into her face as she did so. “I’ll lead you to the main wing.”

We followed her back down a series of corridors, tablets in hand and scarves tied around our necks as Burnal had instructed. I felt a little silly, like I was some kind of interplanetary Girl Scout, until I saw other doctors donning the same cheerful red hats and scarves. They didn’t do white coats here, but we’d brought ours, for which I was glad. It was a tiny bit of familiarity from home.

We were first supposed to check on each patient on our list to make sure they had whatever medicines or other supplies they needed, which should be easy enough. But the case loads were large. I would have to be efficient if I wanted to make sure each of my patients got the best care.

There were several numbered corridors, each with private rooms, and a main room where patients were separated by privacy screens.

“Okay,” I said to myself, “first one’s in corridor 8, room number 6…”

Despite the mad rush of nurses and doctors, I was able to easily find the room. The Daqtarians seemed to have a good sense of how buildings should be laid out. I straightened my hat and knocked, then entered.

A large, muscular Daqtarian lay on the bed, seemingly sleeping peacefully. But as I closed the door behind me, his bright green eyes flickered open, immediately capturing my attention. I’d never seen a color like that on Earth, and I couldn’t help but gaze into them, temporarily transfixed.

A smirk broke out across his face, and despite his bandaged head and bruised face and the fact that he was an alien, I couldn’t help but feel a tingle in my abdomen—the same tingle I got when a hot guy made eye contact with me back home.

“Well, hello,” he said, his voice slightly hoarse. “Am I lucky enough to be your patient?”