13 Degrees of Separation (12 page)

“Aye
Captain,” the rating said, nodding.

...*...*...*...*...

The
ship arrived at Anvil without further incident six days later and docked to the
station's now fully restored docking ring. Custom officers were there to
inspect the ship right along with a Navy intelligence and engineering team. It
was standard practice by now, the intel team used the health and welfare
inspection as a cover to get on board and siphon the ship's database for any
information. Since the ship had come from Horathian space it was of double
interest to them.

Her
crew and passengers were greeted with some suspicion. “I'll do my best to keep
an eye on them,” Smithy said to Lieutenant JG Teague, the intelligence officer
hastily brought in to handle the inspection. She'd handled several before, but
this one she wanted to be careful about. The passengers debarked in orderly
fashion as the crew negotiated for fuel and worked on exchanging cargo.
Meanwhile Teague quietly arranged to have the ship picked over thoroughly,
inside and out. Her sensor records of their time in Pyrax would be erased with
a worm program after they jumped out of the system. She alerted station
security to keep a discrete eye on the people coming off the ship. There was no
telling if they were spies, saboteurs, or just tourists.

She was
instantly alerted to the number of odd people coming out. Most notably, the
long line of bipeds in robes wearing strange face masks. Each mask was painted
to look like a human male or female. Some were quite elaborate, some were
simple. A scan of the people wearing the masked made her even more confused,
they were Neo's.

“What's
up with them?” she asked softly to the ship's officer handling the debarkation.

“They're
weird ones. The Chimerian clan or family, or whatever. They're Neo mongrels, a mix
of Neo species so jumbled up it's hard to tell who is what. They keep to
themselves. Polite, very smart, but weird, with the robes and all.”

“It
takes all kinds. Religious sect?” the Lieutenant asked.

The man
shrugged, clearly disinterested. “Not my problem anymore ma'am, yours,” he said
with a smile.

“Gee
thanks,” she said as he signed a tablet and handed it back to her.

The
Chimerians talked with the health inspector doctors after getting off the ship.
Each was interested in the bored doctor. The doctor frowned, having a bunch of
people dressed in white cotton robes wearing masks was a new one on her. Her
partner shrugged. “To each his or her own I suppose,” he murmured in an aside
to her. Their tricorders could see through the cloth of course.

“I'll need
a blood sample from each of you. Can you tell me your species... oh wait, hmmm.
Chimerian?” she asked. “Is that why you said your clan name was Chimeria?”
Doctor Wasan asked, looking up in mild confusion.

“Indeed.”

“Well,
we'll still need a respiratory sample, along with blood. Possibly urine. Is
anyone sick?”

“No
doctor, we have several doctors among us. I am a trained medical practitioner,”
the leader, Trenton said, holding out an arm. He pulled the robe aside so she
could see his pale pink skin and a black gloved hand. She shrugged.

“Well,
you can't practice medicine here on the station without passing a review board
first, just so you know. You can access the station net to find out more.”

“Okay,”
he said as she used a needle to take a sample.

“This
is a health and welfare check, we're looking for viruses and that sort of
thing,” she said, taking the sample tube and placing it in an analyzer. After a
moment a green light lit next to the view screen. She tapped a button and a
flat holo was projected over the screen. “You are clean. Good to go.”

“Thank
you doctor,” the leader said with a nod, pulling his sleeve down. It wasn't
until he did that did Doctor Wasan realize his other people had turned away.
She frowned but then shrugged as the leader moved aside for the next in line.

Their
ship was a tramp freighter, the old Nelly, their clan numbered near a hundred
and the ship hadn't had passenger space for everyone so they'd doubled and even
triple bunked. They had of course slept in shifts, and some had slept in
storage compartments, but it had been cramped smelly quarters for many months.
It was a bit of a relief to stretch and see new surroundings. All that ran
through the mind of the custom agent, but then consternation hit. The questions
about medical doctors startled and alarmed the customs officer. “Is anyone
sick?”

“No no,
not in an infectious way. We are interested in medical exchanges. We have...
the leader paused. Slowly he nodded. “Medical equipment we can trade for.”

“Oh,
um, you'll have to speak with Doctor Thornby. She's head of Anvil station
medical services as well as the system and the Navy,” the custom's officer
said, handing back an identity card. “If you intend to be here for long please
look into getting ident chips. The basic ones are free.”

“I
see,” the leader replied quietly, taking the card.

The
Chimera family was dressed in white cotton robes. They seemed like good honest,
albeit shy and simple folk, wearing masks painted to look human. They did make
a spectacle of themselves as they entered the main passageways of the station.
As a group they stood out, attracting attention. Some who saw them in passing
thought of them as actors, which some of the clan did do. A few juggled or did
small acts in passing, then passed a boot for donations. They were ever polite,
even when rebuffed.

“It is
the same here as everywhere it seems,” one female murmured to the male. “Will
we ever be free?” she asked bitterly. He waved a hand to indicate to her to be
quiet.

The
clan did take note of Neo shoppers. Some of the clan murmured to others, some
turned away. The matriarch paused in her shopping to see their parade. She
raised her muzzle to sniff the air, catching their odd scent. “Odd,” she said,
recognizing the scent of Neos.

“Hey
lady, are you going to buy that or not?” the testy shopkeeper demanded. She
blinked. “Oh sorry, yes... um, how many do you have and do you do bulk
discounts?” she asked, ears pitched to the newcomers until they were out of
range.

The
parade of robed newcomers moved on. Trenton paused at a map to orient himself,
then waved in the proper direction. Silently his people followed, trying to not
gawk about like tourists.

“This
had better work,” one female said near Trenton.

“It
shall, or it won't and we will move on elsewhere,” Trenton replied, remarkably
affable considering he had bet everything of the clan on this remote
possibility.

“You
said... and we are low on funds...”

“The
clan will survive. Onward,” he said curtly, cutting off debate before others
became involved. This was not the time nor the place for such things.

...*...*...*...*...

Doctor
Thornby was exasperated by the interruption, she had been focused on the
military medical exams. At one point she'd thought of the wisdom of the entire
project, how it could be applied to the growing station population, and
possibly the system at large. Now she was just glad this was over. Or mostly
over anyway. The Navy side had just concluded, but the Marines were just
starting their exams. “Um doctor...” Miss Ralk said, indicating her office
door.

“The
apes tend to act up out of boredom and just to cause mischief. It's a pain in
the ass to the staff. I wish they'd grow up a little,” she said with her back
to her door as she opened her office door. She turned and found a delegation of
four people in her office wearing robes. Her implants told her they weren't
human. They turned to her. “Oh um, sorry, no offense,” she said, blushing.

“No, we
are not troubled by that,” one of the larger persons said, a male. Thornby
realized it was a Neo. Great.

“Well,
I'm not referring to Neos in this case, I'm referring to Marine apes. Marines
in general, we call them apes regardless of species. They tend to be...” she
waved a dismissive hand, realizing she was only digging herself in deeper by
venting a bigoted stereotype, even though there was nothing harmful about it.
“Never mind, not important. What's going on?” she asked, looking to her
assistant.

“I
tried to tell you they were here,” Miss Ralk said as she shrugged and entered
the room. “They have some equipment you want and have a proposition for you,
doctor,” she replied. “And a.... delicate medical request,” she said, looking
at Trenton for confirmation. He nodded. Doctor Thornby stared at his mask. She
could see blue eyes behind the eye holes.

The
doctor turned to her guests. “Oh?” she asked, raising an eyebrow in inquiry.
“Why don't you take off your masks and we'll talk,” she said, moving around to
the other side of her desk. She took up a position of dominance, projecting it
to the room. This was after all her office, and they had come to her for help.

“Yes...”
Trenton came to a decision. Slowly he reached up with a gloved hand and took
his mask off. She stared into the blue eyes of a simian. He wasn't quite human,
but close. A broad nose, slight muzzle, clean shaven, without a single hair on
his face. He looked odd without eyebrows.

His
skin was pinkish, perhaps a little too pinkish. She wondered if he plucked his
hair, and why. She shook herself and raised an eyebrow. “I am doctor Thornby,
chief medical officer of this station, the star system in general, and also a
reserve Lieutenant Commander in charge of the medics for the Navy and Marines
as well.”

“I see.
Quite the accomplishment,” the male said nodding in appreciation.

“It's a
headache and a half sometimes, juggling all the duties and titles. And you
are?” Thornby asked.

“I'm
sorry, I have been remiss. My name is Trenton.”

“Trenton?”
the doctor asked. “Family name?”

“We
call ourselves the Chimerian clan. Or family, it's the same,” Trenton said,
smiling ever so slightly. “We are a mixed breed Neo clan.”

The
doctor nodded. Some Neo's didn't go by a family name or last name, they went by
a species or clan name instead. That made sense, but why they were here was
still a mystery. “You need medical aid? Basic life sustaining medical aid is
covered by the Navy. However, if you need something that falls outside that,
we'll have to talk costs. I can't make promises without...”

Trenton
smiled ever so softly as he held up a restraining hand. Thornby stopped talking
as he pulled a familiar object out of his pocket with his free hand. He turned
his hand palm up and offered the doctor a medical tricorder. The doctor took
it, amused. It was in good condition, her implants linked to it and gave it a
clean bill of health. “I've got plenty of these. Thousands. I can make more
too,” she said, holding it up.

Trenton
blinked, now dismayed. “You can? So can we. We have a medical replicator as
well.”

“And it
works?” Thornby asked, clearly surprised by that little news break. They
nodded. “Somehow I find that just a little hard to believe. Considering all the
lock outs and key codes needed to use it. Unless you have someone with implants
like me,” she said, tapping her forehead.

Looks
were exchanged between the delegates. Slowly their hands rose and the others
removed their masks. She blinked as they turned away shyly or in shame, she
wasn't certain which. She could see simian, more human than ape faces. “Please
excuse us, that was a form of a test. And please excuse our appearances, we
know we are hideous.”

The
doctor reared back in surprise. She blinked glancing out of the corner of her
eye to Miss Ralk who was rapidly blinking in confused consternation. “No, you
aren't hideous, quite the contrary. I've seen hideous. Hideous is a burn victim
or... never mind. I know beauty isn't skin deep, but you look fine.”

“Please
doctor, false flattery?” one female said.

“It's
not false it's true,” Thornby said stubbornly, and then sat on the edge of her
desk. “Why don't you tell me what's going on. First off, why the masks?” she
asked, indicating the masks in their hands. She could see they all wore gloves.

...*...*...*...*...

The
story took some time to get out. She sent a signal through her implants to Miss
Ralk to clear her schedule for the day. Her assistant was used to such
requests, she didn't even quibble about it.

Trenton
explained that the clan had come from Horathian space. He didn't go into
details, but he did state that they wished to change their appearance to
conform to society.

“Conform
to society? In what way? I'm sorry, I'm a little confused. Here it's a bit
different. Society is made up of all species.”

“But
some are better than others, and we wish to join the human race. Survival of
the fittest doctor, surely you of all people can understand that,” one
Chimerian said. Doctor Thornby blinked.

“We can
get into that discussion later. The question is, will you help us?”

“I'm
still trying to understand what I'm getting myself into? You haven't been at
all clear there.”