“Shit. What’s this?” you ask as you see a message pop up on your minividi. Your ship, the independent space freighter Libereco, pulled into a supply point after months of supply runs. As ship’s doctor, you have had a pretty easy time of it. A few scrapes and busted knuckles, and even the occasional STD to treat, but all in all a pretty easy time, as a ship’s doctor. As a member of the crew, that’s a different thing. You have helped negotiate and deliver more than a few supply runs, and of course, once a colony or settlement heard that you are a doctor, they come out of the woodwork to get looked at.
It’s ironic, if the colonists stayed in the Core systems, medicine would be free and available. All preventive medicine and treatments are overseen by the Union of Medical Professionals, or UMP, (you always hated how that sounded. “Ump” which rhymes with “hump”, “thump”, and “chump”). In the Core systems, the costs of medical treatments are paid by the taxes and duties paid by everyone. It’s a good system, but you know there are those who don’t agree with it, which is why they moved out to the Rim.
Your minividi is blinking that there is a message for you and it appeared when you connected to the stations network, so you could check for news and updates. But this message isn’t from the ship or Skipper but from the Core.
Everyone on the ship just calls you Kurgio or Doc, but this message is addressed to your given name, something you haven’t used in jaros. You download it and disconnect from the system and set the minividi for “stand alone” mode. You use the minividi’s shield program to check and see if it is a fake or a scam. It says that there’s nothing harmful on it, and by disconnecting from everything, there’s no way to “back door” something onto it. You open the message. It’s text. You expected a video or something, but it is just written message. A letter.
“Son, there is no easy way to say this, but your father is dead. The funeral will be next week, but I doubt you will get this in time. I don’t know how long it will be until you open this. I know your father and you disagreed about your choices. But he is dead now. Just come home. Your loving Mother.” At the bottom of the message are your parents’ official UMP codes. You could scan them to verify their authenticity, but you recognize them.
“Shit” you say out loud.
Meko comes up behind you, “Anything wrong?”
You turn and look at the ship’s mechanic, a young wiry guy, who sometimes irritates you. But this time the look of concern on his face is genuine.
“I need to talk to Skipper. I need to go home.” You say blinking back tears in your eyes.
You walk through the ship and knock at the Captain’s Quarters. “Come on in.” you hear her say.
“Skipper, I need to go home. I got a message calling me back to the Core.” You tell her, trying to keep a steady tone to your voice.
“Are you sure it’s legit? We aren’t registered with the SG, so I don’t think your name is connected to us.” She says with a slightly defensive tone.
“Skipper, I don’t think it was directed at the Libereco. If it would have been, Oficiro Lee or someone official would have sent us a link. I think it was set for me.” You explain the best you can.
She is silent for a moment. “Ok. We have to deliver these supplies to the client. Then we can go to the Core systems.”
“Thanks, Skipper.” You say and turn to leave.
“Kurgio, have Cookie check the message. She’s good at spotting fakes. If it is legit, she should be able to tell you.” She says in a softer tone.
You nod and head for the cargo bay.
Cookie is doing an inventory of the supplies as Helm and Navs unload the intraship transport. “How is it going?” you ask.
She doesn’t look up from her minividi, “I think we are good. Everything seems to be here. Do you need something Doc?”
For some reason a nervous feeling moves into your throat and you swallow it down. “I got a strange message. Skipper suggested you check it when you have time.”
She quickly glances up at you, “Head for the galley. I’ll look at it when I’m done.”
“Can we do it in the Med Bay?” You ask in a slightly serious tone.
She nods. “See you there, once I’m done.”
You connect your minividi to the ship and put the message on the Med Bay’s main vidi. As you reread it, you can almost hear your mother’s voice. “Damn it.” You say to yourself, as you lie in the reclining med couch.
A little while later Cookie knocks at the open hatchway. “Doc, you need me to check something?” In her hand she is carrying two steaming mugs. “Here, I made a cup of your herbal tea. You sounded like you need a little something to help relax.”
You sit up and take it from her. You breathe in the warm aroma and then take a sip. It is hot but tasty.
She looks at the main vidi. “Oh damn, Doc. Your dad’s dead?”
You take a deeper sip and swallow. The hot tea burns the back of your throat a bit as it goes down, but the pain makes it all seem more real. “Yeah, it looks like it. Skipper wanted you to verify the UMP signature stamps.”
She touches the screen and pulls up a toolbar and clicks on a tool near the Stamp Verification tool you could have used. “Do you have any doubts?” she asks.
You take another sip and slowly shake your head.
She taps the screen a couple of times, reading the results. “This was a month ago. The dates and data check out. If it’s a fake it’s better than what I can make. It’s got not only UMP code, medical license number, but the verification of the hospital they were assigned to. Even in retirement that doesn’t leave your code.”
“What’s that?” you ask as you stand up and look closely at the screen.
She taps the verification tool again and shows you the codes. As you read it, their names, status: retired, then you nod and say “Yes, that is the hospital they both worked at.”
“Your mom is a doctor?” Cookie asks in surprise.
You shake your head, “No, she worked in hospital administration, so part of the UMP.”
Cookie nods. “That makes sense. Good to know.” She takes a sip of her tea. “Did Skipper say when we are going?”
“Right after this run. When the client pays, we’ll head to the Core.” You say as you close the letter. You pull up a blank document and put your UMP stamp on it. Without the tool it looks like a digital UMP Stamp. But by using the tool she had opened, you read the data. It has your real name, your license number, title of Ship’s Doctor, assigned to Freighter Libereco.
“Cookie, Can you remove data from a stamp?” You ask.
“Doc, I can do a lot of things, but that’s your Medical Stamp. That authorizes meds, treatment, hospital access, and everything that the system will allow. If I alter it, it could damage your permissions.”
“But as it is, it could be used to trace me.” You say, tapping the screen.
“You aren’t on the run. You are a ship’s doctor, and a member of the Libereco crew. What’s the issue?” She says with a tone of confusion.
“I’m probably just being silly but, I didn’t think I could be tracked. I thought I disappeared from the system.” You respond.
“No, Doc. As much as we try to tell ourselves we are ‘free holders’ living on the rim, we are in reality, plugged in. We skirt the law, keep our heads down and don’t attract attention. ‘To live outside the law, you must be honest’. That’s what we do.” She says tapping off the tool and closing your blank document. “You said this went directly to your minividi when you connected to the station. If it was looking for our ship, it would have loaded when we landed. This message was waiting for you and you alone. Probably on all the supply stations’ networks.”
“One last question. Who can read the Stamps the way you just did?” You ask genuinely curious.
“Anyone with a code verification and scanning program. Maristos, Cargo Chiefs, Admins, and anyone who needs to verify that a Stamp is legit at a deeper level than just a surface verification. Out on the rim, it’s not done much, but…”
“But back at the Core, it’s done all the time. Got it.” You say now that you understand.
Now it makes sense that your mother would place both her’s and your father’s Stamps on the message so you could verify it is real.
You finish your mug. “Thanks Cookie, and thanks for the tea.”
She takes the empty mug from you. “I’m heading back to the galley, so I’ll take it. Is there anything else you need?”
“No, nothing you can help with.” You say.
Over the next couple of days, You spend as much time exercising as you do anything else. Between using the treadmill, lifting weights, and the resistance machine, you work out to remove stress and tension, as much as you do to maintain muscle mass and bone density.
Helm comes by as you are on the treadmill, wearing a pair of tight shorts and a form fitting shirt. “Kurgio, are you doing okay?” he asks as he gets on the resistance machine.
“Yeah, Helm. I’m just trying to relax a bit. It’s been jaros since I was back at the Core.” You say, as you jog at a steady pace, wearing a similar exercise outfit, good for wicking sweat from the body.
“I’m sorry to hear about your farther. Were you close?” Helm asks.
“Not really.” You say in an almost distracted tone.
He adjusts the tension on the machine and then starts doing arm repetitions.
“How about you?” you ask to try to shift your focus.
Helm switches arms. “My father was a Komandanto on one of the big Ataka Sipos during ‘Unification and Civilization’, so I didn’t really see him much.”
“Damn” you say as you wipe some sweat off of your forehead with your towel, still jogging. “So your father glassed colonies and relocated them? That must be tough.”
He switches the machine so he can do crunches. “I didn’t really know much about that until I was at the Academy. I just knew he was away, and working for ‘the greater good’.”
You slow down your pace to a walk. “Wait a second, you graduated from the Stela Floto Academy? Why aren’t you piloting an Ataka, Armea Transporto, or a Krozipo?”
“Kurgio, I never said I graduated. I said I was at. So was Navs.” He says as he starts doing crunches.
You continue walking to cool down as he does a couple of sets. Then he switches it to work his legs.
“Are you deserters?” you ask in a low tone.
He laughs. “Nothing so exciting. We fell in love, and both decided to fail out together. We heard that independent freighters didn’t ask questions so we took a risk, and lucked out.”
“So why didn’t you just finish and graduate?” you ask genuinely curious.
“We both came from military families. We knew the life, and what would be asked of us. When our families enrolled us in the Academy, we believed in the cause. “Unity and Civilization”, but as we learned more and got closer to finishing, we just stopped trying. We both knew we had the skills and knowledge to make it on the Rim, so we both washed out.” He starts working his leg muscles. “What about you?”
You have learned more about Helm and Navs in the past 20 minutes than you had in the past couple of jaros.
You step off the treadmill and stretch your legs. “My parents wanted me to work at one of the Research Hospitals. I was slated to work at the Emergency Trauma facility on Sankta Espero, but I turned it down.”
“Holy Shit Kurgio, when you said Core, you really meant Core. Hell I thought we were going to Luma Vojo or Ciela Ripozo. Does Skipper know we have to go to Sankta Espero?”
You wipe the sweat off of you, and sit down for a moment. “Actually my home was Sankta Koro. So, we will have to go there when we finish this delivery.”
“Damn. We might as well be visiting Brila Monteto too. Hell, Navs’ parents would probably love to hear that she isn’t working as a whore in a Pleasuredome.” He says in a darkly sarcastic tone.
“Who’s a whore at a Pleasuredome.” A familiar female voice asks. Navs is wearing a tight exercise suit. She sees both of you, sweating and she gives a wolf whistle. “You both look so sexy all hot and sweaty.”
You know she is just being playful as she goes over to the treadmill and starts with a warmup walk.
“On that note, I’m heading back to Med Bay. You two have fun.” You say.
“Not too much fun. Skipper threatened to strand one of us on the next planet if she caught us having sex on these machines again.” Helm says.
“But the showers are still okay, my love.” Navs says with a wink and an exaggerated shake of her hips before she speeds up.
You shake your head chuckling to yourself as you leave. “They really are just horny kids.” You think to yourself.
(Come back for the next part of Kurgio is Called to the Core. If you enjoyed this, leave a comment. If you enjoy my writings and stories, Follow and Subscribe.)
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