Return to Civilization

Haul wanted to ask if his passenger's last night had been resting. It was a good thing the hovercraft was self-driving, unlike the bike. Had the boy steered the wheel, his lack of attention would've led them to a rock by now.

He would throw quick glances at Cassiopeia's face. The bags under her eyes indicated she had an unpleasant night. That and heavy glowers addressed at an imaginary figure outside giving the distinct impression her mood was sour.

No good in asking about her night, he pondered. While he suspected she was not the kind to lash out when exhausted and irritated, Haul wanted to help her feel better. For him, highlighting the issue would only serve to guilt-trip the unfortunate girl.

Even so, with the discussion they had shared the day before, he had hoped she would rely more on his assistance. Sour mood begets sour mood and soon he was sulking a little without even knowing it.

An awful silence had set in the vehicle. The settlement was still three hours away. Perhaps it was the realization a drive this long in this atmosphere would be unbearable, Cassiopeia broke the silence with a sigh.

"Sorry. Just because of a bad dream, I am acting like a little girl. I have not displayed my best behavior ever since we met."

"That makes us two, then." They were finally facing each other. Haul continued, "So far, I've been either too excited to notice you ache, or a bumbling idiot."

"I think you are a bit too hard on yourself."

"That's an engineer for you: always aiming for complete quality control."

Another silence settled. This time Cassiopeia was baffled by that previous sentence. "This is the best joke you could come up with?" she guffawed. The ridicule of the situation made it hard for her to breathe.

"Hey! If you think you can do better, be my guest."

"That is the thing. I already am."

Haul was about to retort something before realizing the joke. He scrubbed his face in exasperation, trying to conceal his smile with his hand. Cassiopeia had her usual smug back on her face.

They spent several minutes coming up with puns and jokes as bad as the previous. When they got bored of this activity, they switched to playing cards. Now that the ice had been broken, the duo were back at the familiarity they had demonstrated the day before.

The next three hours felt like one only. Haul observed they were about to arrive because the system had informed them.

The settlement didn't have a name. Like with planets, colonies and cities would only receive a title when they became autonomous. Before that, its inhabitants and the rest of the Federation would simply use the codename associated with it – or an abridged version. In this case, it was P-3 N45E36 'Scav', abbreviated to P-3 'Scav' or even Scav since it was the only settlement here.

It was arranged around a central communication tower into several districts, each with a distinctive purpose. Going clockwise, those were the garrisons, the workshops, the residential district and the services district. The latter spanned over two-fifths of the total area. It was a necessary size as it combined all the leisure, education, sport and health facilities.

First in the chore list was dropping Cassiopeia at the hospital. After parking in front of a white building, Haul thought it would be best to accompany the girl until she was with the doctor. Both to verify she was in good hands and to inform the expert on the various details.

"Welcome to Carmin PhaLa Wellness Center. The only hospital on P-3 N45E36 'Scav', funded by our generous donators at Carmin PhaLa," greeted an AI through a hologram in the hall. Carmin PhaLa was the leading pharmaceutical laboratory in the federation, hence the name. It had somewhat of a monopoly when it came to the construction of new health facilities throughout the federation realm. And the investors appreciated reminding everyone of that fact.

"My name is Carmina; I will be your virtual assistant during your visit. How can I help you today, dear visitors?"

"We have an appointment with…" Haul got a sheet of paper to get the name right. "With doctor Samuel Gurring."

"Doctor Gurring's office is on the second floor. Follow the red arrows to the stairs. When you are on the second floor, follow the green arrows to the east aisle. Doctor Gurring's door is the third one on the left. Do you require any additional services?"

"That'll be all, thank you."

"It was my pleasure. Should you require my help, call my name and I will appear."

The hologram faded. On the floor, a series of red lights indicated the path to follow, as they were briefed. Thanks to this system, the duo found themselves in front of the large rectangular door in under a minute. The nameplate affixed left little to no doubt as to whom this office belonged to.

After a single knock, they were summoned to enter. In the center of the room, a man in his fifties was finishing his daily physical exercises. Stretching his body on a thin synthetic mattress, he attempted to address his visitors between each breathing. "You must be the girl mentioned by professor Aurussium, Cassiopeia. And you should be his assistant. Glad to meet you. I am Doc Gurring. I'll be supervising your check-up. Now, if you just give me a second…"

Getting back on his two feet, the physician stretched his shoulder's articulations one last time before grabbing his bottle of water and a towel to wipe the sweat glistening on his face. He continued his explanation.

"Without citizenship, you can't legally have access to the federation health care. Foremost, we need to resolve how we will take care of the expenses for the test."

"I do not believe my shuttle crashed with money among the cargo, unfortunately."

Gurring chuckled, trying not to spit the water of his sip. "Good one. Thankfully, the USF is not that cruel. There are two options to relieve the burden of paying from you. To begin with, you could donate the data we'll be gathering to the USF."

"I have already shared with professor Aurussium that I am not too excited about the idea of being a living subject."

"Yes, he did share that info. Which is why there is the second option, letting a guarantor pay for you. The good news is: Heromeoz already told me he was disposed to take care of it."

Cassiopeia turned a weary smile to her companion. "I have already taken advantage of your generosity multiple times. It is kind of embarrassing to let your teacher pay the fees."

"Don't sweat it." Haul punctuated. "Knowing him, he'll be using our budget to pay. The rascal's stingy."

"It does not feel like it would be allowed."

"Special circumstances call for exceptional measures. What's more, with the tech we recovered from your ship, it should be manageable to convince our superior it was a justified expenditure." He stopped when considering what he had just declared. "Yeah, just see this as thanks from the USF for the donation of technology you 'made.'"

"If you say so… then I will be in your care again."

"Great" Gurring resumed. "We will start by drawing some blood and we'll continue with the rest after."

"I'll leave you to it. I need to spare a visit to the warehouses to deliver some parts. Call me if you need anything."

"We'll have the result by the time you come back."

The physician and the student shook hands, and the latter left the building to return to the hovercraft.

Haul needed to cross the city to the workshops district. As he was getting closer, a sense of apprehension grew proportionally. It had been several months since the last time he had delivered the result of their excavations and scavenging. Aurussium was the type to lose himself restoring or simply marveling at the ancient technologies they would uncover. Leading the duo to be often late on schedule.

Haul parked next to one of the warehouses. He rang the contact that would do the inventory and help him with the unloading.

"Took your sweet time to come." A hoarse voice resounded from a distance. A large, tall man followed by a hovering trolley was stomping in Haul's direction. "We were starting to believe you and the little grey decided to run away."

"Glad to see you too, Itzal."

"Spare me that shit."

Itzal was another human, although his job as a warehouse manager had sucked all the humanity left in him. When all he did all day was to oversee the automated cart and categorize the items under his supervision, it was understandable his temper would take a blow.

"Five times. We had to send you a truck five consecutive times cause you'd forget to come here to deliver as per your contract. Your station is one of the closest by, do you know how much that cost us."

"Well, our series of mishaps stop here, cause we're early on delivery for once."

"Don't use that tone with me. I'm trying to warn you here. If you continue like this, the Federation will start getting involved."

While the robots were discharging the equipment, Itzal took Haul aside, his left arm behind Haul's neck and grabbed the boy's left shoulder to keep him close.

"They'll start to think you want to keep some of the stuff for yourself. You and your teach' will be branded as traitors. And I don't want to explain what fate is reserved for those."

"Relax, take it easy." Haul replied with a smile. So Itzal was the type to believe in conspiracy, he thought. "I'll tell you, we just got our hands on exclusive gear. You'll get to peek at them next month; I swear I'll handle Aurussium so that he hurries to finish working on them."

The manager glared back at him, unimpressed. "Though talk for someone who's always been late. Don't be surprised when you'll receive your letter from the government."

Haul responded with a shrug and an amused smile. In his mind, if they were ready to send a letter as warning, surely they couldn't be that dangerous. And even then, Haul never entertained the thought of an oppressive federation further than an amusing – yet gloomy – idea.

"And there they are..." Itzal's last comment took the student by surprise. The manager hurried to point at someone behind Haul, as an explanation for his words.

In the distance, a tall man was closing by with a slow and measured pace. He was sporting green overalls, indicating he was a civil servant on duty. His face was hidden by the shadow of his cap. The sun behind her gave her an oppressive look. And the speech that the supervisor had given a minute earlier did nothing to suggest otherwise.

With the unloading done, Itzal was already leaving to get back to his work. He still made the final effort to add. "I'll owe you a drink if you're still kicking after he talks to you. Good luck anyway."

"Donovaria Haul, I presume. I was looking for you."

It was a surprise to hear a much softer voice from the stranger. The latter greeted the student with a handshake. Haul found the lack of strength quite strange given the previous impression he had.

"Where are my manners?" continued the man. "I am Fergus Doistov. I work under the supervision of the federation ministry of demographics. Professor Aurussium informed us of the recent events at your station. Could you accompany me to the town hall?"