Arcs Faith part 4
11 May 2019Valcatta
( I hope this does not offend anyone but I have switched from 1st person to third. I was trying to slip this in unnoticed but friends did see it so, I decided to let everyone know up front. My Apologies if this ruins the story. )The doctor had barely opened the door to the waiting room when this caught the attention of Val, who had been sitting nervously in that room watching the door intently. Their eyes met and she saw him motion for her to come over. Val slowly rose up and walked across the room, never taking her eyes off him. Once there, he opened the door wider and let her enter, then closed it behind them so that no one else could see or hear.
"She’s going to be fine," The doctor said before she could ask. Val let out a deep slow breath in relief, the tight wrinkles in her forehead relaxing a bit. "But," he continued, "I fear you're about to be forced into a unique situation, I found something." He reached out his hand clearly holding something, Val reached out to accept the item and, he dropped a diamond necklace into her hand. "Slaves do not own jewelry," he said while slowly shaking his head. "You really should be thinking about what you are going to do with her."
“Do with her? Why would that be up to me?” Val asked. “Look, Doctor Wilkins, I just found her, I don’t own her, Can't she make that decision?”
"Perhaps she can, perhaps not. I truly don't know how she is going to react," the doctor said. At this, he realized that Val was confused with his statement and, he continued. "Val, Not all slaves are unhappy with their situation. Some of the people of the Empire will indenture themselves into slavery, and there is usually a contract that is filed with the central government for a certain amount of time. They will put themselves and, in a lot of cases, their entire family into slavery to pay off a debt. Sometimes, they do this as a way to just survive. At least as a slave, they will be fed, have clothing and a place to sleep. I know this sounds strange to you but she is from a completely different reality from ours. You aren't going to be able to just give her a few credits and help her straighten up her life, runaway slaves are not usually favored in a good light."
"Who said she ran?" Valcatta said abruptly, a little more abruptly than she actually meant to, so she softened her tone. "What I meant to say was, we found her in the middle of space floating in a debris field from a destroyed vessel."
“Yes, you did, and you took her to a non-Empire system, not to mention whether you are going to tell me to remove her slave chip or not. And she is holding a necklace, a very valuable one if my old eyes don't deceive me. I'm not sure she is going to want to tell us where that came from, but, I am sure she is not supposed to have it.”
“Do we need to make a decision about the chip right now?” Val asked.
“I suppose not, but you need to know that chip can be tracked.”
“I Understand, how long before she will be awake enough to talk to?”
“I can wake her now, but I suggest we give her a few hours, I will make sure that no one else from this facility goes in there,” the doctor said.
“Thank you doctor Wilkins, I owe you big for this,” Val smiled up at the doctor.
“Val, I loved your Mother and father like they were my own family, and I suspect I feel a little closer to you than I do to your brother because your father was always so protective of you. To be honest, I was never sure if you or your brother could tell, but I do. In fact, your father had asked me on more than one occasion to look after you, just in case anything ever happened to him or your mom. It's an honor to help you because I'm helping keep my word to your father, and that's very important to me.” Val smiled and embraced the older man in a warm hug leaning her head into his shoulder.
“I will sit with her if that's ok?” Val asked softly.
“Sure, can I get you something to eat? You have been in that waiting room for a while.” Val smiled at him with a look on her face that told him yes she could definitely eat something right now. “I will have it delivered to the room, do not let anyone in however, I want to keep this as hush-hush as we can for now.” Val nodded and walked down the hall to the room were the rescued girl was lying unconscious.