Married to the Alien Doctor: Renascence Alliance Series Book 2
Page 15
“True,” Dru said and then after a couple minutes added, “If things don’t work out well here, could I join you later?”
Captain Kara turned to Dru then and said genuinely, “There will always be a place for you on my ship, but don’t you quit here James for any frivolous reason. And if you do end up returning to me, don’t bring a husband, already too many of the women are now trying to get their husbands onboard and I don’t need that. For the first time a human has an Alliance Alpha Warship and my crew is trying to make it a love boat.”
“I can promise you; I won’t bring a husband.”
“Do you know who this mystery man who put the ban on you is? Tir won’t tell me. He says it is forbidden for women to know. What medieval nonsense.”
Dru shook her head, “I don’t know, but it is assumed he is high ranking.”
“I’ve no doubt about that. I know he is one of Tir’s friends. I overheard a VM the other day, but I couldn’t find out who it was.”
Dru was excited by the possibility that Tir knew who put the ban on her. She wanted to read Tir’s thoughts, but she imagined the penalty for reading someone as grand as Admiral Tir’s thoughts was probably quite severe, so she resisted. “Please try and find out, it’s driving me crazy not knowing. Do you think he is here now? Does he serve on the Refa?”
“I don’t think he’s in Tir’s fleet. I think he is an old friend.”
“Old?”
“I mean they grew up together. I’ll message you if I find out anything else. It’s such a ridiculous custom.” Then Admiral Tir got up and Captain Kara said to Dru quickly, “You may go, James.”
“Yes Captain,” she replied not moving and just watching everyone to really make sure she could leave. She guessed that there would be one final prayer and she was glad she didn’t walk away because she was right. Captain Kara had not been on planet learning about the Alliance culture like she had. She doesn’t know or just doesn’t care, Dru reflected. And then she thought, Gods help the Alliance if she ever becomes Empress.
Alone
All the women from the Dakota, except for Dru, left one week after Captain Kara, as she was now called in the Alliance, as surnames were worn on their ranking jewelry and generally not spoken, had come to see them and offered them a place aboard her Alliance Alpha Warship, the Zuin. Now it was only Dru and the three slaves in the entire building. The additional 1,000 human women that returned with Admiral Tir were stuck in quarantine for the foreseeable future as they had caught some kind of galactic flu on the way to the Alliance from Earth. The Chief Medical Officer Anu on Space Port One, said she did not want to risk any contamination. Dru did not envy those women having to be under the care of that woman. She absently touched her cheek remembering how she had hit Dru after the humiliating medical exam.
Dru banished those thoughts and tried to concentrate on the good things that were happening. Tomorrow would be her first day of medical school. Doctor Jina had supervised a cognitive download of all the Alliance medical knowledge she would need over the last week. All which would be dormant until integrated and activated through actual study, then it would become her own knowledge. It was the most technologically advanced way to learn in the galaxy. Humans had just begun to discover how to use similar technology, but so far it wasn’t in use for the general public. She had also had an interview and assessment with the Capital City Medical School a couple days ago. The school only admitted women. She knew she shouldn’t have been surprised as she had already come to realize that almost everything was run by women on the Capital Planet. Older men of maximum class were consultants to the government or military. Male doctors that retired from the military were also only consultants on Alliance planets, they were only allowed to practice on ships or on colonies.
Dru had been assessed both by written examination and orally by a panel of Alliance doctors. Doctor Jina had been one of the doctors on the panel and Dru knew that she had been her biggest advantage. The test was all day and they only broke for the midday meal. The next day she returned and was told her results.
“You have quite a talent Drusilla and we think you will do well here. Obviously, you lack a lot of technical knowledge, but this, we have no doubt you will easily pick up with some study, especially with the aid of the downloads. It’s amazing how far behind human medicine is and yet you are all still here. As for your age, we want to put you with women almost the same age as you, so we will place you in the final year of structured classes. You will have to do a lot of studying to catch up, but we think you can manage this. After this year you will begin your practical training based on your results and when your practical finishes you will be an Alliance doctor. Do you accept this opportunity?”
Dru was surprised they were offering her so much, “Yes,” she had to catch herself from saying ‘thank you.’ Instead she replied, “The gods have given me so much. I am grateful for their grace.”
Dru was so happy she almost skipped on her way home. The first thing she had done when she returned to the quiet apartment building was to visit the private shrine. She went to stand in front of the goddess of home and said the standard prayer to the black statue and then added, “And don’t think I am leaving this building because I don’t like it. I just want to work again and be a part of something.” Then she lit a candle, bowed and left. She reckoned she was beginning to talk to the statues because she was so bored. The slaves refused to talk to her other than a couple of necessary words. They said, ‘It’s not proper we speak to you more than what is necessary,’ which disappointed Dru. She was so lonely. She followed her crewmates through social media and sent the occasional message back and forth, but they were embarking on new adventures and had little time to talk to her. Also, in the past week she had had little to say other than she was going to medical school which didn’t interest them at all. John, who was now the Chief Medical Officer on the Zuin did send her a nice message about it and shared what little information he had picked up from serving with Doctor Siu on the Refa. And she was happy for his long informative message.
Dru ate her meals at one of the large tables, always with one of the slave women watching her eat, as it went against the gods to eat alone. The slaves rotated who would sit with her because whoever it was also had to skip their meal if she took too long to eat. Dru thought it was all ridiculous, but she always ate as fast as she could, anyway. As she left the table tonight though and said the standard phrase, “Thank the gods for they have looked after us,” she felt a shiver run through her and she had the strangest feeling that maybe in a parallel universe she actually believed in the Alliance religion. She shook off the feeling and assumed it must just be her tiredness making her feel peculiar and went up to her room.
Not long after, a slave came into her room unannounced and gave her another parcel from her Mr. Mystery. It was the same kind of black box she had received before but this one was smaller. She unwrapped the black paper and opened the black wooden box. Inside was an ornate silver ring with a light blue jewel on it. She tried it on, and it fit perfectly on her ring finger. She extended her hand admiring it and said out loud to herself, “A bit gaudy, but this is the Alliance, I’m sure it is considered demure given the amount of jewelry they all wear.” As before, there was a note and she took it out and read it.
Drusilla,
Good luck tomorrow on your first day at medical school. Please wear this and know you belong with us.
She looked at the ring again and sighed. She wished she knew who her suitor was. Madame Bai gave her a list of over 500 possible candidates, she looked through them, but in the end, it gave her a headache to think about, so she gave up and resigned herself to the fact she was just going to have to wait. Madame Bai said that he would probably make himself known when she came of age or at the Year Assembly which was only months away.
Dru got up at five o’clock in the morning. She showered and then put on her navy-blue dress, black everyday stockings and her black boots. Then she looked at he
rself in the mirror and put on the small ID necklace and the necklace from Mr. Mystery and the ring he had given her as well. She wore her hair down as she always did unless she was working. She went downstairs and ate a kind of porridge with an Alliance tea while a slave watched her and then said ‘goodbye’ to the guards as she began the 45-minute walk through the city to the capital’s medical school.
Dru felt good on her walk. The city was coming alive around her and for the first time here she had a purpose and was beginning a routine. She ignored the stares that she got as she was becoming accustomed to them and hoped that in a couple years, no one in the capital would be surprised to see a human woman with red hair walking among them. She always wanted to stop people staring and ask, ‘What is the difference between me and that other alien?’ as there were other aliens that lived and visited the Capital Planet.
Of course, Dru knew the answer to that question, humans were different. They were, to the most religious people, the Lost People, and to the most secular Alliance people, they were the stopgap to the demographics issue. She wondered then if they would ever be able to figure out why their female numbers were dwindling, and she hoped that it would not affect her. Unfortunately, she had the suspicion that whatever was affecting Alliance women would soon begin to affect the human women as well after a generation or so of living on the planet. She thought about this as she entered the medical school gates. The guards did not need to check her identity as they knew exactly who she was and waved her in.
Dru found her classroom easily. It was a good-sized auditorium. There were 123 women in her class including her, all of about the same age. Every day the students were ranked by the teachers and had to sit in that order. Rank was so important in the Alliance it was always the first thing people seemed to think about when considering people for anything. Dru checked the electronic display outside the classroom and found her name. As Madame Bai had told her to expect, she was last in rank because it was her first day. She went in and then found her name again, displayed with light on the back of the chair to the far right in the very back of the auditorium. She took her seat and got out her tablet and waited. She was the first to arrive, but not soon after the other women began coming in, some silently and some chatting to each other and they all looked at her. Some gave her curious looks and others looks of disdain, Dru ignored them all and just sat with a passive look on her face. I’m not here to make friends. I am here to learn and make a future for myself, she thought to give her strength. She couldn’t help but look at the ring and be reminded of her Mr. Mystery’s words, ‘You belong with us.’ She warmed to this Mr. Mystery for the first time now, his words and actions had made her feel confident in this moment when she was all alone in this room full of aliens.
Soon the instructor appeared. It was one of the more senior doctors Dru remembered from her oral examination. The instructor waited for everyone to settle down before she began teaching that day’s lesson. Throughout the class she would randomly call on students to answer questions and if they could not answer the questions, Dru assumed, they would move down the rank in where they sat tomorrow. Dru was called on three times, which she thought was quite excessive as some had not been called on at all, however she was able to answer all the questions easily, so again she assumed that she would move up tomorrow.
The rest of the morning proceeded like this. Classes were approximately 40 minutes long with ten-minute breaks between them. There was an hour break for the midday meal. Dru went to the canteen however they had only bread as a vegetarian option so that is all she was able to eat with some water. She sat alone in the crowded dining hall, everyone mostly ignoring her now. Dru didn’t reflect too much on that. She thought if it were reversed, she would probably not go out of her way to talk to an alien if she had been on Earth and she also reminded herself that being ignored was better than being bullied.
In the afternoon, she had two more classes and then she had an appointment with the head librarian at the library and adjacent study hall in a massive building next to the even more massive Capital City Hospital. As she walked into the grand entryway of the library, she was quickly met by a middle-aged woman in a black dress with greying hair who introduced herself as the Chief Librarian Zola. She spent 30 minutes showing Dru around the library. Including, showing her how to access information, the rooms for past, present and hypothetical medical holographic simulations and finally the study hall which was composed of long tables with many chairs in front of massive windows, beautifully overlooking the urban sprawl below.
The Chief Librarian ended her private tour by saying, while opening a door to a good-sized room that had a window with a nice view of the city, “And this is your private room to study, any time of day. The library is open all day and night. All we need to do is set up the locks with your fingerprints and voice activation.”
Dru was surprised. Madame Bai had told her that she did not have a private study room at the library and when she heard the cost, 10 UC a week, she decided that she could not afford it either. “There must be a mistake. I don’t have a private study room.”
The Chief Librarian pulled out her IC, checked and then said, “You do. It has been paid in full for the duration of your studies. Two years. I have the receipt right here and as you are the only human and the only one with a human name at the medical school, there can be no mistake.”
“Who paid for it?” Dru tried to ask innocently.
Chief Librarian Zola checked and Dru was excited to think that she was suddenly going have a name to who put the ban on her but was disappointed when the older woman shook her head, “I’m sorry, it was an anonymous purchase.” Then she smiled at Dru, “An anonymous suitor? Or it must be a ban as you are not old enough for a proper suitor.”
Dru gave her a tired smile, “It’s a ban, but I find it difficult to accept things from someone I have never met, who I don’t even know his name.”
The Chief Librarian closed the door to Dru’s study room, so that they could have some privacy and said, “Drusilla, do you mind if I give you some advice?”
“Please do,” she said.
“Just accept the gifts. Whether this man has the intention of really courting you or not, no one knows. It may just be someone who really believes in the Lost People and wants to make your transition into the Alliance as smooth as possible to pave the way for others. These gifts come without prejudice. You owe this benefactor nothing but to do the best you can with what is given to you. Does that make sense?”
“It is just so difficult, on Earth…”
The Chief Librarian cut her off, “You are an Alliance citizen. Forget what you knew before. Live this Alliance life now. Constantly comparing the two will only make your life more complicated.”
Dru was taken aback by the Chief Librarian’s abruptness but she knew she shouldn’t have been. This is what everyone kept saying to her, ‘Forget Earth, you are Alliance now.’ But she would always be human and have a place for Earth in her heart, even if her heart was shattered now. “I understand, but it’s still difficult for me to do that,” she placed one finger over her heart to show in the Alliance way she still very much-loved Earth. Then she hesitated and said after a couple seconds, “Thank you for your advice.”
The Chief Librarian smiled sympathetically, “We are all in this together. I’m a true believer in the Lost People and I, just like your benefactor and many others, want to see you do well. More than any of the other women.”
“Why me more than them?”
“You’re the youngest, you’re a doctor, you’ve the most potential to learn our ways. To see if you can become civilized. And I like the color of your hair.”
Dru smiled at her little joke, “Thank you for showing me the room.”
The Chief Librarian nodded and said on her way out, “If there is anything you need don’t hesitate to ask. May the gods continue to shine their light on you.”
“Let the gods be praised,” Dru said automatically as she sat
down at the large desk. She opened the computer menu and began to study, forgetting all about Mr. Mystery, her racist classmates and all her other worries in the Alliance. However, every now and then she would look at her ring and think, You have really outdone yourself with this study room. And again, she was warmed by Mr. Mystery’s thoughtfulness. She hoped he wasn’t a grotesque old man wanting to marry her, but as the librarian hinted at, only someone who wanted her to do well.
Ket sat at his desk in his quarters aboard the Tuir and opened the VM from his sister Dera. Dera knew that Ket had put the ban on the human doctor. Everyone knew that there were no secrets in Alliance families, even though, on the outside they all played to the tune that they kept to the Contracts and that men and women kept to the strict codes that separated their worlds.
“Brother, as requested I’m reporting to you about your human,” she gave her brother a big smile. “As you know, today was her first day in our class. She arrived on time, with her red hair shockingly loose, down her back. I guess, just like Captain Kara, she wants to show us that she is not afraid of us and is proud to be human. However, besides her hair being unbraided, her clothing was very appropriate, and she was wearing both the necklace and ring you gave her. She sat in the last chair as she is the newest to the class and therefore in the last position. When she was called upon to answer questions, she knew the answers without hesitation, but didn’t over answer any questions in an attempt to show off like others are known to do. After class she went straight to the library and I don’t know how long she stayed because I’m not a stalker and I went home. My recommendation to you is to give her some hair clips or something so she gets the message to wear her hair braided. And please Ket, take my advice on this one. Your old flame Rez already hates Drusilla for being human, she’ll hate her even more when she finds out you have put a ban on her.” Dera paused for a few seconds and then added, “You know, it’s so strange having a human among us. She’s the same but so different, her pale skin and red hair. Are you sure you want to really pursue this? Nothing else is new here. Mother is constantly busy at the palace; the Empress says she has trouble sleeping as she wakes up obsessed with what Admiral Tir has done and the very thought that a human may be the next Empress sends her into bouts of despair and anger. We all know that will never happen, but the Empress cannot be consoled on the matter. When are you home next?”