Chapter 95: Volunteer Preparations

The autopilot began beeping, pulling Lusac from his book. It turned out that reading wasn't so bad when there was literally nothing else to do for long stretches of time. He'd slept, worked out again, eaten another two meals, and solved his metal puzzle three times before giving in and trying that holonovel out again.

The beeping was loud and high pitched, ensuring he heard it very clearly. Mumbling to himself, he turned off the novel and turned his attention to the alert.

"Of course I know I'm approaching Sliaryt. I'm the one who plotted the course, you stupid thing," he said. The computer required him to confirm three different times that he understood the dangers of the planet he was approaching.

"Blasted government ships and their unnecessary precautions." Lus rolled his eyes as he finished clearing away the alerts. The autopilot refused to work so he'd have to manually fly himself the rest of the way there, but honestly it was nice to get a break from that book.

He could just make out the dull, brown and green planet that was Sliaryt against the red giant it orbited. It had three separate moons, all of them small, and if he squinted, he thought he could discern the space station near it as well.

The station was his true target. It was there that he'd go through the volunteer orientation and sign up before getting sent down to the planet with a bunch of other Humans who were literally going to visit zombieland out of the goodness of their hearts.

Of course Lusac understood wanting to help other people, especially those in such grievous circumstances, but he just struggled to imagine himself being willing to take such a big risk like spending two weeks on a planet where almost every living thing had an interest in taking a bite out of you for no other reason than to help.

But if he was going down anyway, he was going to try to do something for someone while he was there. If only to ease his own guilt about getting to leave the horrors of Sliaryt behind after two weeks.

Lus ran through his fake story in his head as he piloted the shuttle towards the planet's space station. Once he got close enough for a clear view of the station, his stomach curdled as he noticed five different battle ships also in orbit around the planet. His sensors warned him that more were on the other side, for a total of a dozen ships guarding Sliaryt.

Logically he knew there was no way all those ships were here just to catch him, but it made him uneasy to see such a large military presence around the planet when he was about to infiltrate it.

Doing his best to keep himself calm, Lusac refocused on keeping his flying steady as he approached the station. It wasn't long before his communicator went off.

"Federal Ship 2310678965, you are approaching Sliaryt Station. State your name and purpose," a male voice said.

"L-Lucas Absti, reporting for volunteer service," he said, barely remembering to say the correct name even after all his mental prepwork.

Lucas… Who'd ever heard of a name as stupid as that?

"Absti, yes, we have you on our manifest. A last minute addition to this expedition. Land in hangar beta, bay three," the man responded.

Thank the Watcher that Nippy had the connections to get him in so easily. It'd been less than a week since it was determined he'd be the one to go at all.

"Yes, sir." Lus took the shuttle closer to the station as one of the many hangars opened up. Just inside was a network of open bays, and he took the one clearly labeled '3,' one of the last available spots.

Once the ship was safely landed, he opened the rear door, stood up, and grabbed his bag from the copilot's chair. He took one last glance around the shuttle which had been his home for well over a day.

"See you in a couple of weeks ship… I hope," he murmured as he walked out.

A Kremel woman with a holotablet was already waiting at the landing pad. A golem made of finely carved wood with a glass head stood nearby, several scanning tools in its hands.

"Lucas Absti?" she asked.

"That's me," Lus said, mentally drilling the name 'Lucas' into his mind. It would be hard to not correct people all the time with how similar it was to his real name.

"Great. Follow me to security while the golem does a sweep of your shuttle. My name is Dlt." The Kremel was already walking towards the door.

"A sweep?" Lus glanced back at the creature who was headed towards his ship. It wouldn't find anything suspicious, right? It's not like he left anything distinctly 'Runner' behind, but he still didn't like that thing poking around his ship.

"A precaution for every ship that comes through the station. Federal law requires that we do it." Dlt was entirely unconcerned.

"Right. I don't suppose it could clean while it's at it?" Lus was supposed to be a suckling, and sucklings expected others to do all the dirty work… From his understanding at least.

"Ha. If only. Our cleaning golems are already stretched thin as is."

They left the hangar behind and entered a long corridor. Dlt ignored all the other doors and took Lus directly to the one at the far end. Inside was a set of bored looking security officers and some old scanning equipment.

"They just need to confirm you're not some terrorist or cultist," the Kremel explained, gesturing him forward.

Lus forced a casual smile as he walked up to the guards. "Hi."

One gave a lazy wave while the other pulled an id scanner out. Lus put his hand forward and allowed the officer to scan his wrist. After that he set his bag in a machine which completed an internal scan.

"Clear," one of the officers said, motioning him forward. Dlt joined him and together they exited the small checkpoint.

"Now that the hardest part is over, we'll get you over to medical for final bloodwork and then get you settled into a temporary bunk. Unfortunately we don't have the room or resources for private rooms, but the pod is comfortable enough. Tomorrow morning we'll do the orientation with the whole volunteer crew so you can meet everyone else who's going down to the planet with you." Dlt led him through the corridors which all looked the same with the bland alunitanium walls, floors, and ceilings. The lights were set to a level that was comfortable for Humans rather than Nemarians and Kremel.

"Have you been down before?" Lusac asked before biting his lip. That was a stupid question.

The Kremel laughed. "Obviously not or else I wouldn't be here now. Only Humans are lucky enough to have the chance of the immunity gene. But I've worked here five years now as a hostess for the volunteers."

"Do you mind if I ask why? It seems a little risky. What if the disease managed to make it back with one of the volunteers?" Lus was partly curious and partly searching for information about their security protocols. He wanted to be sure there was no chance he could bring nefitis back to the Argo with him.

Dlt chuckled. "No chance of that. The ship that goes down and comes back is equipped with the finest sensors in the galaxy which can detect even a single strand of the virus inside. Plus all the volunteers are put through a whole sanitization process before they're allowed contact with anyone else. You'll learn about it at the orientation."

Her steps slowed. "As to your first question, well, I do this for a close personal reason. My husband was infected with nefitis five and a half years ago while with a long term merchant convoy. It took me three months to find out, and by then he'd already been sent to Sliaryt. I wanted to do something to help him and the others who suffered, so I decided to dedicate my life to the humanitarian station, and even if I can't go down to physically help, I make sure others get that chance."

Lus blinked in surprise. He tried to imagine how much love it would take to do something so grand and romantic. "That's really cool. I mean, you wanting to help. Not your husband. Sorry to hear about that." He could feel the heat on his face.

"It's alright. I tell this story often. You're far from the first to ask." Dlt patted his back with one of her large, gray hands. "My husband actually spent the first three years on the planet as a contact point for the volunteers. Eventually the disease took too strong a hold, and he couldn't risk being around them for such long stretches, but normally he makes an effort to check in with the volunteers. His name is Hufin-Xas, a Nemarian with indigo fins."

Lusac nearly stopped in his tracks. "A Nemarian? Your husband is a Nemarian?"

Obviously he'd heard of interspecies marriages. People were free to do as they wanted in such things, but it was almost unheard of for Nemarians and Kremel to get together. Typically any interspecies relationships involved a Human or in rare cases a rogue Shamayim.

As biology worked, all the Cinder Rock Galaxy's species were incompatible genetically when it came to reproduction so there were no half-Kremel, half Nemarian kids running around. Lus was kind of glad about that because all he could picture was Nippy with fins and scales, and that was a sight he didn't like.

Dlt gave another throaty laugh. "Yes, yes he is. It never ceases to amaze me how surprised people are to hear that. I do have to be careful around our older volunteers when I tell them, though. I'm not about to go around giving out heart attacks."

"Nearly gave me on," Lus muttered to himself.

"Here's medical. A nurse will grab your blood, and then I'll take you to the volunteer quarters."

The medical center was far larger than the Argo's and very well equipped. Lusac noticed several staff members walking around in clean white scrubs while the same amount of golems attended the more menial tasks.

A Human nurse came over to him. Everyone in the center was Human actually except for Dlt.

"Volunteer?" the woman asked.

Lus nodded.

She held a scanner out. "Your chip?"

Lus put his wrist forward so she could scan it.

"Welcome to the Sliaryt Humanitarian and Research Station, Mr. Absti. I'm Nurse Inol. Come with me so I can take a blood sample and confirm a few medical history questions in case of an emergency," the nurse said as she glanced up from the scanner's screen.

"Sure thing. Lead the way."

Inol took him to an exam area curtained off from the rest of the center where a golem took his vitals using a high end scanner. The nurse then took a sample of his blood and sent it off with the golem for immediate testing to ensure he really did have the immunity gene.

It would suck if Tremt-Fusi had somehow gotten it wrong. Then all this time would be wasted.

After the golem left, Inol launched into a series of questions about Lusac's family history. He was truthful, which meant saying no to everything. Even if someone in his family had had a chronic medical condition, he wouldn't have known since they wouldn't have known. People on Treft didn't visit doctors all that much unless they absolutely had to.

Once the nurse finished with the eternal questionnaire, she got a notification on the holotablet she was taking notes on.

"The results of the blood test are back. You are confirmed to be immune to nefitis," she informed him. "Thank you for you time, Mr. Absti, and thank you for serving down on Sliaryt. You will never know just how much of an impact you have down there."

Lusac gave a tight smile and thanked her as he left the exam area and returned to Dlt.

"Ready to see your luxurious room for the night?" the Kremel asked with a smile.

Lus nodded and followed her out of the medical center and back through the maze of hallways. She took him to a large room full of sleeping pods embedded in the walls, four high going the length of each one.

"You'll have bunk 17, just over there," she said, pointing out the small cubbyhole with a mattress where he was to sleep that night. "You can leave your stuff there, and I'll finish up our tour by taking you to the lounge. Most of the other volunteers are already here so you can meet a few of your colleagues before dinner."

He dropped his bag off at the bed, choosing to trust that nobody was going to be snooping, and then followed Dlt back out of the sleeping quarters and to the next door where the lounge was.

"Enjoy," she said, motioning him inside. "I'll see you tomorrow at orientation."

"Thank you, Dlt." He stepped into the room and exhaled in relief. It seemed to manage to fool everyone for now. He just had to keep it up for a few more weeks.

He glanced around the well supplied lounge room, complete with several holoscreens, a bar full of snacks and drinks, and several card tables for various games. There were about ten other Humans in there, all mingling together.

Normally, Lus wasn't the most social in big groups, especially when he was undercover, but after a full day stuck alone in a shuttle, he was eager to socialize. Plus it'd been a very long time since he was surrounded entirely by his own species.

Just as he was about to head over to the group of couches with the most occupants, he froze, his eyes catching sight of something he couldn't believe. He wanted to turn around and run, but it was too late. She'd seen him.

Officer Varyna Rhine. Somehow, after everything, she'd finally managed to catch up to him.