Chapter 31: Healer’s Discourse — Part 3

“Yeah, but there’s a flaw in your reasoning. Ferret’s in love with Roxy, and I don’t think that the girl can live without her twin brother, who happens to have fallen in love with Didi. If Ferret leaves, then so do the twins, and so will Didi. With all that love, I’d end up alone with Xeti. Xeti’s good crew, but he isn’t good enough to work four extra hands.” Shadow reached into a conduit, tightening a brace.

Doc Fredson was thinking, trying desperately to find a way to keep Ferret behind. He knew it was pointless. Shadow’s crew was under her tutelage, and Doc Fredson was an outsider. He knew also that Ferret was not emotionally or physically equipped for a smuggler’s lifestyle. What he didn’t know was that Shadow knew it was well. Shadow sealed all the cargo bay access hatches while Doc Fredson considered her valid point. She had the access hatches in the engine room opened by the time he found something to say. Shadow had already anticipated his next comment.

“The boy isn’t meant for battle.” Doc said, sounding stubborn.

“I have no intention of ever letting him go head to head with anybody. He is on board as a medic and life support technician. He is not on board as a fighter. He’ll study on board as a physician, and I’ll bring him back when it’s time for his seasoning training. I do, after all, trust your skills in medicine.”

Doc Fredson let out a long breath. “I had a feeling I was going to lose, so I brought this for him.” He handed her a small data crystal. “It has all the medical information known to human kind, including my personal notes on advanced cybernetics — and an AI updating program that keeps tabs on the galactic medical community. It also has extensive information on sympathetic healing, which Ferret seems most suited to.”

Shadow nodded an affirmative, taking the cube. “I’ll start him on it as soon as we’re on our way.”

“Thank you.” Doc Fredson said.

“Why are you giving this to Ferret?”

“I’m old, my only son’s passion is engineering. This may be the last chance I have to pass on what I know to somebody who will put it to good use.” Doc Fredson said.

Shadow returned his smile, each sharing a piece of the other’s life without realizing it. Shadow squeezed both his hands, and thanked him again for helping with the ship. She led Doc Fredson from the ship, stepping into sunlight, stretching in the warmth, hugging Doc Fredson as a way of goodbye. Xeti led the crew to the Mercy. Apparently there wasn’t much happening on Sweetsprings; none of them looked nearly as drunk as Shadow expected. The Doc hugged Shadow one more time unexpectedly while everybody stepped aboard. He stepped away, both hands clapped tightly to her shoulders. His hands, so wrinkled, so worn, were warm despite their age.

His voice was almost broken by the emotion concealed within. “You do your father proud. He was a good man.”

“He was a good man.” Shadow said. “Take care.”

Doc Fredson nodded. “Take care of your crew. Next time you come by we’ll get some fishing in. I own a pond on the upper ecology.”

Ferret walked by, Shadow pulled the medical cube from her pocket.

“Plug this into your study chamber and enjoy.”

Ferret took it gingerly in his hands, stared at it for a moment, “Yes Ma’am.” He looked almost greedy, as if he were holding something as precious as gold.

Doc Fredson, at that point, turned to leave. Shadow sealed the hatch, and once Fredson was safely away, she shot into space, dodging asteroids, and getting herself to the edge of the system, pausing to review local and galactic gravitational maps. Didi and Xeti sat at their stations, each leaning closer to Shadow to see what she had been so focused on.

“You haven’t decided where we’re going from here, have you?” Didi giggled, still a little flushed from her few glasses of fine wine.

“No, I haven’t. We have to be careful where we go, considering. Grison’s military is expanding into this sector of space. Too big a population cluster, and we might step right back into the war. Too small, and we run into more troubles with pirates. And if we start to get too much of a reputation with pirates, they’ll team up on us.”

“What’s this?” Didi studied the map Shadow had brought up for review.

The map, updated via long-range sensors, showed with a minimal delay, the state of gravity and the source objects in their immediate vicinity. “That is the gravity route leading back to Coalition Space.” Shadow said.

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