The Indecent Proposal of Mrs. Cortez

by Scarlett J Rose

  “All right, bring him back for his next check up in a month and make sure you get some food into both of you,” Sam said, as she patted the boy’s head. He snuggled against his mother’s chest, his trust of her shattered by the painful experience.

  “Thank you, Nurse,” the mother said, before she carried her son out of the medical tent and into the refugee camp.

  Samantha sighed and stretched, pushing her hands into the small of her back, gently massaging the sore muscles with her fingertips. She packed up, disposing of the needle and gauze before she made her way to the head physician’s tent.

  The air was hot outside the stuffy medical tent, the summer breeze providing little relief as she walked along the small grouping of tents with the red cross on the sides, displaying their medical purpose. She avoided the guy-ropes in the narrow alleyway that the rows of tents had created as she walked. She thought about her own family, her parents and sisters, who were in another camp hundreds of miles away. She was scheduled for a Comms link-up with her family after her shift, and she was looking forward to it. She had managed to get her family on a waiting list for a migration pass to the new Human Colonies that were being set up as part of the peace treaty with the Trenin High Command.

  On the Trenin home world there were political instabilities between clans, great struggles for power. Some called for the annihilation of the humans, while others called for the humans to be absorbed into the Trenin Alliance. There were great conflicts being fought on both the Trenin home and on Earth. If Earth’s inhabitants proved viable to joining the Trenin Aliance, it could be a new start for her family and a chance at a normal life for her teenage twin sisters, Celeste and Sasha.

  The tent of the lead physician of Camp Ninety-Four stood at the back of the medical section, away from much of the noise, stench, and general misery that such camps seemed to have in abundance. She entered the small tent and waited a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darker room.

  “Ah, Nurse Ellis, please have a seat.” Doctor Forsythe’s voice drew her attention to the small trestle table that served as his desk. The legs seemed to bow under the weight of the near-mountain of paperwork that the lead physician had to go though. Forsythe waited until she had sat down in a rickety old chair that was probably an antique scrounged from some abandoned farmhouse somewhere.

  “Cup of water? I’m sorry I can’t offer you coffee. As you know, we ran out of tea and coffee two weeks ago, no word yet on the resupply,” Forsythe said sadly as he pushed his battered glasses up along his nose. The spectacles were being held together valiantly by a piece of old sticky tape. “It’s becoming a running joke, ‘what will we run out of next?’”

  Sam shook her head at the situation.

  “Thanks, but I’m okay, Doctor. What was it you needed to see me about?” she asked, leaning back in the chair, then sitting upright again when it groaned warningly.

  “Ah, yes. What I am about to tell you is highly classified, and must not leave this tent. The United Earth Military has requested a nurse with experience in Trenin physiology, and I’ve put you forward. Seeing as you have worked extensively with several half-breeds, you are perfect for the position. There is a good remunerative package, and they have said that your family will be looked after as well, should you take the position.”

  Sam frowned a little, before she schooled her face to an impassive visage. “Ah, thank you, Doctor. I’m not sure what to say.”

  “I’d say take the job, get out of this hellhole.” Forsythe sighed. “I know I would.” The doctor stood up. “Colonel Holmes from the UEM will be here shortly. He wants an answer. If you agree, you’ll depart immediately. Think about it, but don’t take too long. Imagine what this could mean for your family. There could even be a push forward for that migration pass to the new colonies for them.”

  Sam thought about the proposal. Her family were in an even worse place than Camp Ninety-Four. If it meant getting her parents and little sisters out of that cesspit, she would take it. “All right, I’ll take the position,” she said.

  “Very good, I’ll send a comm to the Colonel. Go and pack your belongings.”

  Sam nodded her thanks and turned towards the tent’s exit.

  “Oh, and Sam?”

  “Yes, Doctor?” She turned back to face him, a hand grasping the weathered canvas flap of the tent’s exit.

  “Good luck. You’re an excellent nurse, and we are sorry to lose you.”

  “Thanks, Rodger.” She smiled, turned, and headed for the tent she shared with four other nurses to pack her gear.

  She had packed in no time. Many of her few belongings were easily stowed in her duffel bag. Sam looked around the tent that had been her home for the last year. She placed the duffel on her rickety old cot and headed out to the comms tent, noting it was five minutes until she was due to call her family in Camp Sixty-Six.

  The comms tent was dark, but warm with the heat from the old communications equipment. The sweating comms manager showed her to a screen that blinked on to show her family already waiting.

  “Hey, Mama, hey, Daddy, Celeste, Sasha! How is everyone doing?” she asked, smiling at her family.

  “We’re getting by, sweetheart,” her mother said.

  Sam looked at the grainy picture. “You eating, Mama? You’re getting thinner every time I see you.” She frowned in concern.

  “You know how it is, sweetheart. I’d rather my children eat my share than go hungry. Your father and I have been halving our rations and giving them to the girls.”

  “We tried to stop them from doing it, Sammy,” Sasha said, needlessly trying to defend herself.

  “But you know how they can be.” Celeste sighed.

  “Yes, very stubborn,” Samantha said, smirking. “Listen, you two just do as you’re told, okay? Let Mama and Daddy worry about things.” She sat back in her chair as the picture fuzzed and went black for a moment before coming back on and clearing up.

  “We must get getting some atmospheric interference out here,” Sam said.

  “There’s been a bit of ship activity in orbit, so maybe that’s what it is,” her father said.

  “Yeah, you could see one of the big Trenin warships in orbit. It must have been massive!” Celeste said with excitement. In Sam’s mind, Celeste was the excitable twin, the risk taker. She wanted to be a pilot in the UEM.

  “There were a few Earth Military ships attacking them, and you could see the flashes of explosions,” Sasha said softly. Sam saw her as the quiet one, the thinker, more than happy to be settled down with an old book or fixing some gadget or doohickey.

  “It was the rebels!” Sasha said excitedly.

  “That’s just rumor, dear,” her father admonished.

  “Then the next day it was gone, so I don’t know what was going on up there, but we got other things to worry about than rebel spaceships.” Her mother sighed.

  “Well, that might change soon,” Sam said with a little smile.

  “Why, what’s happened, Samantha?” her father asked.

  “I’m being transferred. I’m going to a military base that needs a nurse, and one of the sweeteners for the deal is that I can get a push for a migration pass, for my family,” Sam said, keeping out of the conversation all the the top-secret information she had. She didn’t want to ruin the family’s chances of getting a transfer to one of the new colonies.

  Her mother’s face lit up with hope. “Darling, that’s wonderful! Maybe you might meet some handsome soldier who will take care of you like you deserve, and maybe give me some grandbabies?” Her mother grinned and winked.

  “Mama, you know I love you, but you haven’t got an empty nest just yet, so you’ll have to be patient for grandbabies. Besides, I haven’t even had time to go on a date, let alone meet the man who will be the father of my children.”

  Her mother smiled. “I know darling, but when the time is right, you’ll find him.”

  The comms manager tapped her on the shoulder. “One minute left, Sam.”
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  “Thanks, Ken,” she said, before turning back to her family. “Well, we got about a minute left, so I’ll hopefully be able to schedule more comms time when I’m settled at the base. I’ll be leaving as soon as I finish our call. But I will be in touch. Girls, look after Mama and Daddy. Do what they say and be careful. Mama, Daddy, I love you guys so much. Be safe, please, and I’ll let you know how we go with getting that migration pass pushed through.”

  The girls both kissed their hands and blew their kisses at the screen, and Sam blew two back to the seventeen-year-olds. She missed her family, and it was hard to be apart from them. She wanted to be able to take care of them, but in this world, it was hard enough just trying to keep yourself out of trouble.

  The comms unit blinked off, and Sam left the tent, heading back to her own to collect her things and meet the military transport that would take her to the base.

  End of sample chapter

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