Embedded Files
Nora readjusted her posture sitting on the examination table for the fifth time. As soon as their shuttle docked with the Arkship, Nora and her father were immediately escorted onto the much larger vessel for a medical checkup. At this point, things were happening so fast that she was starting to feel lost and a little bewildered. A robot had already gathered her height, weight, and blood pressure and she now waited for the doctor. The paper on the examination table crinkled loudly as she hopped off to be on her feet for a bit. The evenly lit white room contained no shadows and had only a sink, a table, a chair, and a large scanning device as furnishings. At that moment, a woman in a lab coat and carrying a tablet entered.
Nora couldn’t tell if the doctor was 20 or 60 as she had gray hair and eyes but no wrinkles or smile lines. Putting down her tablet, the doctor caught Nora’s gaze. She held it until Nora started to feel uncomfortable, then the doctor slowly directed her gaze downwards until it seemed she had studied every inch of Nora’s body. Suddenly, the doctor rushed in and gave Nora a tight hug. Nora was surprised at first but couldn’t help but hug her back.
“Everything is going to be alright,” she cooed, stepping back.
“Um, thanks,” said Nora.
“I’m sorry,” said the doctor, “it just looked like you’ve been through a lot the past few days.”
“Thanks,” Nora held her arm with her other hand, “I guess I did.”
“Of course,” she patted Nora on the shoulder. “My name is Tam.”
“I’m Nora.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” said Tam. She poked at her tablet a few times causing the large scanning device to start moving and clicking. “Any questions before we start the examination?”
“This may sound strange,” Nora shot a glance at the reanimated device, “but are you human or…?”
“Youmen,” said the doctor, nodding, “was it the eyes that gave it away?” She gestured towards the whirring machine.
“It was the hug,” Nora stepped onto the marked area and held her arms over her head following Tam’s cues, “people—most humans—aren’t that perceptive and kind.”
“Thank you,” Tam giggled, “my friends actually say I’m the densest youmen they know, so it’s nice to hear that. I’m going to start the scan, just hold still until the bio-wielding sensor bars reach the floor.”
Nora nodded and then watched as two large electronics laden boxes, one in front of her, one behind, smoothly swept past her from head to toe. Nora noticed her skin felt warmer than usual when directly under the gaze of the sensor bars.
“Okay you can sit down now,” said Tam as information flooded her tablet. Without taking her eyes off the tablet, she groped for her chair, pulled it towards her and took a seat. Nora sat down on the edge of the examination table.
“So you’re very healthy for the most part,” said Tam after studying the tablet for a spell.
“The most part?”
“Correct. Starting with the mind, it seems you have anxiety, are at risk of developing PTSD, and are in the early stages of grief,” Tam looked up from her tablet.
“The scanner told you all that?” Nora felt shocked and uncomfortably vulnerable.
“It guessed all of that,” said Tam, “I now need to confirm with you so I can recommend the proper treatments if any.” She then slipped out of her authoritative doctor’s voice to the softer tone she introduced herself with, “can you tell me if any of those statements were false? You don’t have to go into detail unless you would like to, just a yes or no will suffice.”
“N-no, none were false,” said Nora.
“I see, thank you Nora,” Tam poked at her tablet a few times. “Now the scanner is telling me that you’ve also suffered lacerations to your arms and legs recently but they were treated and are healing nicely. However it also detected high levels of synthetic polymers and heavy metals in your body.”
“That must be the water,” said Nora, “oh Soren!” She stared at her lap trying not to cry. “I don’t want to talk about it right now,” she said, feeling Tam’s eyes bearing down on her.
“I understand,” she said, “if it’s any consolation, pretty much everyone coming from Earth has had high levels of toxins. Like the others, I am going to recommend you get a filter implant installed next to your kidneys which, when coupled with a nanobot injection, will speed up the removal of the identified compounds. That will be in addition to the seven rounds of vaccinations and standard nanobot injection.”
“Thanks,” said Nora, “is that everything?”
“Well there is actually a nice surprise here,” said Tam, “did you know you can kinetic wield?”
“I can what?”
“You have the ability to move objects without touching or blowing on them, although if no one has shown you how, the only thing you might be able to do right now is sense the presence of things behind thin walls.”
“I’ve never met a wielder before,” said Nora, “can you wield?”
“I can do light bio-wielding, enough to heal small scrapes and cuts,” said Tam, “never had to buy a bandage in my life. Anyways,” she pulled a pin out of her tablet and handed it to Nora. “This contains your medical record and prescriptions, you will need this when you get set up with your general care provider.”
“Thank you,” said Nora, carefully putting it in her pocket, “also thank you for, well, being what I needed at this moment.” She scratched the back of her head, “I’m glad to have met you.”
“Of course, it was a pleasure to help you,” Tam beamed, “actually, I moved to Altaria recently to the same city that’s on your file. I’m looking to make some friends, so we could be transplant buddies if that sounds good to you.”
“That would be great,” said Nora. She walked out the door following Tam’s warm gestures.
As she walked down the hall, she looked at the precious storage device she received.
“New friends,” she thought to herself.
End of Epilogue of Book 2
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