This is from this prompt :-)
https://steemit.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02446-f256-do-no-harm
The medic known as Allie had gained quite the reputation. She had managed to save people that everyone else had said were not savable. She'd managed to cure those that were said to be incurable. More than one elite had made it a point to find the station she was working at to bring sick relatives and have her see to them.
But now a choice was being given to her. Several were offering large sums of Time for her to work for them and leave the station. But here at the station, there were hundreds who needed her, many could not pay, of course, but without her they, or a family member, would likely perish. But how to explain it to the wealthy ones who thought such talent was wasted on the poor? -- Anon Guest
When one is talented at giving the hopeless hope, giving those without a chance a new chance, or giving those facing their ends a new start, one gets to be known. Medik Allie was both Medik and Lucker, giving her Luck to others so that they could have another chance. Following the Vorax Rescue, the wealthy had noticed.
Galactic Economics tends to prevent obscene wealth accumulation, but the Alliance can't be everywhere and they can't stop every loophole. There will always be the kind of person who's the head of an amount of wealth akin to the body of a swollen tick about to paralyse its victim. The kind of person who, like the tick, are not healthy to have around in large numbers.
Technology can only do so much. Genes can only be cleansed of imperfections so many times. Organs can only be replaced so many times. And, in the era before B'Nar made its technology available[1], only so many times one body could be repaired. Some retreated into techno-sarcophagi, with nanotechnology keeping their brain alive when their body failed. They would pilot humanoid puppets and pay extensive amounts of money to keep their machines alive. Sooner or later, those parasites ran out of profits and fell by the wayside. One did not want to live and die like that.
At first, Edda Nebulae sent a representative. They attempted to negotiate Allie's exclusivity with the standard boilerplate contract.
"No, thank you," said Allie. "I'm happy with my work here." Since the representative didn't have anything medically wrong with them, Allie sent them on their way.
Next, Edda Nebulae sent an executive representative. A real closer. They did not get much further.
"Yes, I've heard this pitch before, and my answer is still 'no'. I'm happy where I am."
"If you don't take this generous offer, Mx Nebulae could make your life... inconvenient."
"I'm sure ze could try," agreed Allie. "Yet I get the feeling that Mx Nebulae needs me more than ze admits. Ze wouldn't want to make my life so inconvenient that I won't be able to practice at all. That would be against hir own interests."
The executive representative fumed, but had to leave before the orderlies carried them out.
There were other efforts. Edda Nebulae attempted to buy each and every free clinic that Allie ran, turning them into more expensive medical treatment facilities. Every single time it happened, Allie packed up her business and moved on before the termination penalties could be enacted. Allie was, after all, a Lucky Medik.
Edda Nebulae spent a decent part of hir fortune on that pursuit before ze finally turned up in Allie's most recent clinic.
"I don't understand it. This place is disgusting. How can you stand to live in this hell-hole?"
"I go where I'm needed," said Allie. "I enjoy helping people."
"But you could be helping me. That's far more important."
Allie said, "I can't understand why you believe that. I can help hundreds of people in a day. Treating just one person all the time would get boring."
"I can offer you the known universe. I can get you anything. Sights that would make you weep for the beauty of beholding them. Marvels that would occupy and perplex your mind. Luxuries that would make your current standards of indulgence look like the worst portions of your nightmares. I could give you everything and all you have to do is make sure I live as long as I can."
"I want to live my life as I please and not at one person's whims," said Allie.
"There has to be something you want. Equipment, medicine, tools... food and shelter. I could give you a fully equipped medical vessel with staff waiting your every whim."
"That would be generous of you... if I were allowed to do what I wanted with it," Allie allowed. She had spotted the trap, and continued on with her routines.
Edda Nebulae fumed silently, took a deep breath, and decided to try another angle. This was amazing levels of self-control for someone who had grown used to never hearing the word 'no'. "What do I have to do to gain your favour?"
Allie thought about this for a while, seeing to those who had no other hope in the Universe. Eventually, she came up with an answer. "Help more people than I have," she said.
The storytellers say that Edda Nebulae spent the rest of hir life in the effort. They don't say whether or not ze succeeded.
[1] B'Nar is one of the more interesting Human colonies in which technology rocketed forward instead of crawling back to some stability from a gigantic, backwards fall. They have perfected brain-to-computer transfers and are effectively immortal. They do claim that most get bored of life after living to about eight hundred.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / photocreo]
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