Chapter 10:
Clara was still in her chamber when the summons came. She was beeped on the telecom on the wall. She answered it to find a disembodied voice informing her that she had to report to a med-bay for a physical.
“You must be kidding me,” she muttered. “Do they even spy on us in the chambers? Am I going to be handed a bill for using too much oxygen while making love?”
The idea would have been funny if she was not so sure that it might actually be true. She climbed into the cleanser booth and out then dressed hastily. A ticket popped out of the wall. She grabbed it and groaned. She’d cleansed one time already that day. The second tryst with the cleansers had just cost her five credits!
Furious and still out of sorts from that sexual encounter and its aftermath, she headed out of the room and toward the medi-center. Her nerves tightened with each step she took. She had not been told she had to have a physical and as far as she was concerned, it was likely just another way for the planet committee to get more credits out of her.
When the bay doors opened to reveal Marik standing there, her nerves not only went tau—they threatened to fray and snap.
Marik said, “Come with me, please.”
They were the only two in there, so she balked. “Why?”
His eyes met hers. “You need a phys.”
“Why?” her fists balled up.
His face didn’t change. “It’s the rules.”
“I was never told that. I’m not paying for this either.”
Marik’s lips lifted in a grin. “I see.”
Her thoughts were in chaos. Had Renall ordered the phys to make sure she was not ill or diseased? A little late for him to worry about that, wasn’t it? Her chin came up higher. “Why now?”
“Why not now?” His grin was meant to be disarming. Clara was not buying it.
Her eyebrow lifted. “I have been here for weeks. I never had to have one before.”
“They want to make sure your system is adjusting without issue.’
Oh. Well, that was plausible. Still, the idea that Renall had gotten worried she might be riddled with some dreaded illness stayed on. She knew there was no way out of the phys no matter how she felt about it too though. “Fine. Can we make it fast? I need to get back to the tables.”
“Not after that skull scrape.” He started walking, and she fell into step beside him. He added, “That is something else I need to check while I am at it. There can be some nasty after-effects.”
“You should have been there for the during,” she muttered.
Marik gave her a sympathetic look. “I have been. It’s awful. For a second I almost wished I would just go ahead and die, it was that bad.”
He had a point there. She let a grin lift her mouth. “Me too. Why do they let those things in here knowing they can do that?”
“Because they have lots of credits.”
Of course. On Orbitary, everything came down to credits.
Marik pointed to a bay bed, and they stepped into the semi-circle of its walls. Clara sat on the edge of the bed, but he said, “It’s full.”
Shit. She glared at him. “I need a cover at least.”
He pointed to a small stack of linen at the top of the bed, and she grabbed at it while he turned his back, fiddling with dials and knobs on the scanners. The mask went over her face. Confusion set in. Why a mask for a phys?
Then darkness took her down.
**
Clara woke hours later, in her own room. The room was black. Orbitary charged every single soul a surcharge for lights and wicks. Most people cut everything off the minute they laid down at night to avoid overcharging their credits, and to keep from getting a stiff fine for being wasteful with the resources.
