“I understood every word. I just don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The doctor in a box, that ring a bell?”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“No, it’s called a meditech unit.”
“Okay, I’ll bite for the moment,” Brittany said with a sigh. “What’s it do?”
“Everything except bring life back—and deliver babies. It does everything a doctor can do, just a whole lot quicker. It accelerates the healing process to such an extent that it’s almost instantaneous. It cures disease, mends bones and ripped skin and muscle, is so thorough in fixing anything that’s abnormal that even old scar tissue gets erased.”
“Do you realize what you’re describing is nothing short of miraculous?”
Shanelle shrugged. “If it helps, a lot of worlds agree with you—or rather, disbelieve, just like you. Sha-Ka’an was the same, but it’s kinda hard to dispute when you actually see someone injured beyond repair, about to die, and then after a Transfer to a meditech they are back to perfect health. It’s so miraculous that the Sha-Ka’ani, who want absolutely nothing to do with off-world inventions and high technology, ordered at least one meditech unit for each of their towns. If something can save your life when nothing else can, that’s worth having around, isn’t it?”
“Sure,” Brittany agreed. “If something like that really exists.”
Shanelle grinned at her. “Let’s hope you never need to find out.”
“No, why don’t we prove it to me instead.”
Shanelle blinked. “You want to get injured just to experience something firsthand? Ireallydon’t think Dalden would allow that.”
“You said it erases scars, didn’t you? Well, I’m loaded with them—no biggies, but lots of little ones, a hazard of my profession.”
“She’s got you there, kiddo,” Martha’s voice purred from across the room. “Take her to Medical. This ought to be interesting.”
Brittany wasn’t sure she wanted to go now. If Martha was all for it, then there must be some new trick awaiting her there. The massager had been nice, but she wouldn’t be surprised if something like that had been invented already but just wasn’t on the market yet for the general public. But this so-called meditech was about as believable as a spaceship was.
She followed Shanelle anyway. Curiosity was human nature, as well as walking eyes-open into traps because of it. So what would they tell her when she still had her scars afterward? That the machine was currently malfunctioning, or that the scars were too old to be erased?
There was a row of them in the pristine white room called Medical, but no technicians around to operate them. They were longer than the massager, wider, deeper, and really did resemble oversized coffins. Brittany almost balked at getting into one of them. This was ridiculous. The thingcouldn’tdo what they said it could. Yet this was her idea; she couldn’t back down from it now. Well, she could, but she preferred to not give a cowardly impression if she could help it.
The lid on the closest one opened automatically as soon as she got near it. The unit was low to the floor, the bottom about the height of a couch, easy to sit down and stretch out in. It was padded on all sides, and not as deep as its size seemed to indicate. Considering that there wasn’t much depth to the lid either, they would probably only accommodate lean people, which was pretty silly when you considered people came in all sizes and shapes.
“What happens when people with a weight problem need to use one of these?” she asked as she cautiously laid down on the one that had opened for her.
“I mentioned they aren’t designed to deal with pregnancies, didn’t I?”
“I mean just your average person who likes to eat too much.”
“Ohhh, well, I suppose they would need to lose some weight first.”
“And die in the meantime?”
Shanelle smiled. “The world that created these is a world that no longer uses its animal resources, the few it has left anyway, for food purposes. They subsist on food that has the texture, taste, and look of the real stuff, but it’s not real, and it’s virtually impossible to become overweight on such a regulated, nutritious diet.”
“But you also said these get sold to other worlds—have they all conquered obesity?”
“No, indeed, but can you imagine a better incentive to keep your body healthy? I’m sorry, that was a rather tasteless bit of humor. Actually, most of the higher advanced worlds have ‘conquered,’ as you put it, such health problems, if not through government regulation then with simple intelligence and an appreciation of a healthy environment. Then, too, you have militaristic worlds that keep fit for other than health reasons. Either way, once a world has been discovered, they can opt to advance their way of life, or continue to progress normally. The League of Confederated Planets has a strict policy of noninterference if a planet opts for the latter.”
“But why would anyone refuse such—miracles—if they were offered?”
“For any number of reasons, including ingrained culture, ignorance, natural distrust of off-worlders—” Laughter circled, echoed about the room from the many wall monitors, causing Shanelle to make a face before adding, “Okay, and warrior stubbornness.”
“I think she was being amused bymydistrust,” Brittany said, making a face of her own.
Shanelle just grinned. “Don’t kid yourself, kiddo. The Sha-Ka’ani have other worlds beat hands down when it comes tonotliking off-worlders and off-world inventions.”
