uniforms but she much
preferred the modern white smock of her profession. She was glad she had
resurrected it. She brushed an errant hair off her lapel and then turned to the
door.
Irons had better not have pulled a fast one with that shipment, she
thought, pushing her way through the swinging door and out into the brightly
lit hall. She turned, orienting towards her office but then reluctantly towards
a knot of doctors who were talking quietly but vehemently about some subject.
It looked like she had to do some arbitration before she started lighting a
fire under some asses to get that shipment she thought with a pang.
...*...*...*...*...
As the admiral prepared his shuttle Sprite entertained herself by
checking the various systems she'd managed to gain access to on the planet.
There really wasn't much else to do. Watching the organics was the equivalent
of watching television, sometimes there really wasn't anything decent on worth
watching.
Sprite flipped through the various databases before she switched
to the camera feeds. She watched one of the few cameras in the city of Hazard.
A two meter tall and very slim Terran in a black outfit was cackling and
rubbing his bony hands together right in the center of town. He had a top hat
and cape on, and of all things a handlebar mustache that he kept fingering. He
really seemed involved in his gloating, muttering something about we've got her
now, over and over. Another guy was with him, some henchman he called Homer.
She turned up the audio as she spotted the sheriff coming into frame. Out of
idle curiosity Sprite lip read their discussion.
“Snidely! You best not of tied that girl up to the tracks again!
Nell's mom called, she didn't show up for work this morning! Boss is fit to be
tied... err, you know what I mean!”
The tall man flinched as the sheriff came over. He turned slowly
and then shrugged, trying hard not to hunch his back and shoulders. Coltrain
brandished a fist. “Now look here, you want to play your perverted games that's
your business. You and Nell, but we've got a train coming in around five as
usual so you just trot your scrawny ass on over to wherever you tied that poor
girl up and let her loose and apologize. You hear me?”
Snidely hung his head and toed the ground in an obvious 'ah shucks
do I have to' gesture. His partner did too. “Yes, Sheriff,” they finally said,
from the look of them they seemed to be pouting.
“Now get before I really get mad. I mean it!” The Sheriff warned.
“Oh! Oh! Oh! You just get on out of here,” he growled as the two villains left
hastily as he pretended to send a kick there way. “And I want to see Nell when
she's free. If it's not consensual I'll throw you both in the slammer!” he
yelled. He made some inarticulate sounds and seemed to strut for a bit and then
walked off frame.
“Organics. I can never figure them out,' the AI said.
“Oh?” Proteus asked. She showed him the compressed video. The AI
blob just bobbed. “I do not understand.”
“Never mind. You were never programmed to handle human
interactions on this level anyway,” Sprite replied with a sigh. “Sometimes I
envy you that.”
...*...*...*...*...
Helen, Director Richards to her subordinates and Doctor Richards
from her patients swore softly as she looked at the latest budget. Things were
getting there, she judged they had managed to get mainstream medicine in the
major cities up to somewhere close to what Terrans had in the early twentieth
century or so. Still it was slow, sometimes maddeningly slow. Part of it was
right here, the budget. Many of the patients didn't have funds, her clinics
were open to all, rich or poor. She had a small line in the budget from the
government... she flipped the paper up and swore again... that was getting
smaller every year. Damn them! The only time they threw her a bone was when someone
wanted a miracle or there was a major crisis! Didn't they know prior
planning... getting the resources and
preferred the modern white smock of her profession. She was glad she had
resurrected it. She brushed an errant hair off her lapel and then turned to the
door.
Irons had better not have pulled a fast one with that shipment, she
thought, pushing her way through the swinging door and out into the brightly
lit hall. She turned, orienting towards her office but then reluctantly towards
a knot of doctors who were talking quietly but vehemently about some subject.
It looked like she had to do some arbitration before she started lighting a
fire under some asses to get that shipment she thought with a pang.
...*...*...*...*...
As the admiral prepared his shuttle Sprite entertained herself by
checking the various systems she'd managed to gain access to on the planet.
There really wasn't much else to do. Watching the organics was the equivalent
of watching television, sometimes there really wasn't anything decent on worth
watching.
Sprite flipped through the various databases before she switched
to the camera feeds. She watched one of the few cameras in the city of Hazard.
A two meter tall and very slim Terran in a black outfit was cackling and
rubbing his bony hands together right in the center of town. He had a top hat
and cape on, and of all things a handlebar mustache that he kept fingering. He
really seemed involved in his gloating, muttering something about we've got her
now, over and over. Another guy was with him, some henchman he called Homer.
She turned up the audio as she spotted the sheriff coming into frame. Out of
idle curiosity Sprite lip read their discussion.
“Snidely! You best not of tied that girl up to the tracks again!
Nell's mom called, she didn't show up for work this morning! Boss is fit to be
tied... err, you know what I mean!”
The tall man flinched as the sheriff came over. He turned slowly
and then shrugged, trying hard not to hunch his back and shoulders. Coltrain
brandished a fist. “Now look here, you want to play your perverted games that's
your business. You and Nell, but we've got a train coming in around five as
usual so you just trot your scrawny ass on over to wherever you tied that poor
girl up and let her loose and apologize. You hear me?”
Snidely hung his head and toed the ground in an obvious 'ah shucks
do I have to' gesture. His partner did too. “Yes, Sheriff,” they finally said,
from the look of them they seemed to be pouting.
“Now get before I really get mad. I mean it!” The Sheriff warned.
“Oh! Oh! Oh! You just get on out of here,” he growled as the two villains left
hastily as he pretended to send a kick there way. “And I want to see Nell when
she's free. If it's not consensual I'll throw you both in the slammer!” he
yelled. He made some inarticulate sounds and seemed to strut for a bit and then
walked off frame.
“Organics. I can never figure them out,' the AI said.
“Oh?” Proteus asked. She showed him the compressed video. The AI
blob just bobbed. “I do not understand.”
“Never mind. You were never programmed to handle human
interactions on this level anyway,” Sprite replied with a sigh. “Sometimes I
envy you that.”
...*...*...*...*...
Helen, Director Richards to her subordinates and Doctor Richards
from her patients swore softly as she looked at the latest budget. Things were
getting there, she judged they had managed to get mainstream medicine in the
major cities up to somewhere close to what Terrans had in the early twentieth
century or so. Still it was slow, sometimes maddeningly slow. Part of it was
right here, the budget. Many of the patients didn't have funds, her clinics
were open to all, rich or poor. She had a small line in the budget from the
government... she flipped the paper up and swore again... that was getting
smaller every year. Damn them! The only time they threw her a bone was when someone
wanted a miracle or there was a major crisis! Didn't they know prior
planning... getting the resources and
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