They had nothing to give, no funds what so ever. With them was their youngest sibling, unable to move due to the injuries so severe that even the best medicine around could not fix it. Their only hope were the B'Nari. The sibling wept, feeling terrible because their beloved family was going through so much for them since the accident. But kept being assured that it was the least they could do since the injuries which caused the complete paralysis of the body was due to the heroic efforts the teen had gone through to save their family when the accident had occurred. But would the B'Nari be compassionate enough to give a new body for free to a family who was destitute and only able to go there due to the kindness of the freighter captain and a lot of luck? -- Anon Guest
Desperate times lead to desperate measures. When things are at their worst, there are those who are willing to do anything to save those near and dear to them. Mars' job had been to look after Lor. In a way, they were still doing that.
Lor had paid his ability to save Mars, and that wasn't the way things were supposed to work. After they had been dug out of the rubble, his paralysis was revealed. Mars had gone through rage, yelling, "You dumbass, I'm supposed to keep you safe," then bargaining, offering everything they had, including access to their body, to make Lor well again. It wasn't enough. You had to have Third Gold Yacht money to afford the stuff Lor needed.
Including the constant care that Lor needed, now that his body was wrecked. They did what they could afford, with bracers and plaster and -yuck- adult didies. But what Lor needed most was someone there to take care of it all. The family would starve without every pair of hands working to pay all the bills. They had to beg to make ends meet.
In a heartwarming display of community feeling, the neighbourhood banded together and sold as much stuff as they could spare. They worked harder than usual to scrape together more things to sell. All to get a janky stasis box that was good enough to keep Lor in stasis for eight hours at a stretch. So long as the power was on and it was plugged into the charger. It was enough to get the rest of the family working without the undue distraction of worrying about Lor.
Mars could tell it was only a stopgap. It was enough to make sure the gears of progress could use all the useful people and letting Lors exist for the minutes that someone was there to look after him. This... was not enough. Something had to be done. Something radical.
Mars spent months on it. Gathering and charging enough batteries to keep Lor in stasis long enough to smuggle themself and Lor aboard a Galactic freighter. Any Galactic freighter. Some of that time was working out, to the second, how long it would take to bypass all the security with a suspiciously large container with really weird power readings and bizarre content scans.
The quest included gaining their hands on adequate shielding, a universal power plug adapter, food for a month, learning that water was recycled infinitely on Galactic ships and, at their mother's insistence, a Saviour Straw. It would filter every possible contaminant out of any water Mars encountered. This meant the quest also had to include a bendable tube so Lor could drink using it too.
In the end, all that prep was largely unnecessary. Mars hauled Lor past all the security by blending in seamlessly with all the other dockworkers loading up freight. They weren't even scanned. Nobody bothered to check where Mars was, nor what they were doing with cables in a corner with guaranteed air. Nobody came to chase them out. The pilot didn't even bother to look their way.
Mars looked after Lor. It was their first and longest job. Lor stayed in stasis while Mars went out scavenging for water or feeding didies to the recycling system to exchange for new ones for the printer. Each expedition a heart-stopping adventure where Mars took every precaution to not leave a trace or attract any notice.
And yet, just after the first Hyperspace jump, Mars woke to a message on the wall near their hiding space. Come say hello, I'm harmless.
The Pilot was waiting in the hall. Sitting cross-legged and sipping from a baggie of goo. They had another one resting on a cushion near Mars' egress panel. "Hi there," they cooed. "You've got to be the Deregger I picked up at the last stop."
"Please don't space us?" Mars could barely raise their voice above a whisper.
This earned a withering look from the Pilot. "Really? Really?" They sighed. "Okay. Few brief lessons. One, I'm not a monster. I'm not going to space you or whoever you've got with you. Sensors say someone in desperate medical need. There's you and the person with you, right? Nobody else? I promise you're not in trouble. I just want to distribute the credit correctly."
Credit? That sounded too good to be true. "What's the scam?"
"Yeah, you're a deregger," the Pilot rolled their eyes. "Call me Jase, rhymes with chase. Every freighter who goes through deregger space considers it a patriotic duty to let waifs and strays in. It's why we never bother with security."
Oh. That's why it was almost too easy to get in. It was too easy to get in and the Galactics liked it that way. "But what do you do about lazy freeloaders who just want a free ride?"
"One, there's no such thing. Everyone has something that tickles their endorphins and they can make it raise Time once they know how to. Two, even if there was a lazy freeloader in Deregger space, they'd be worth it for the flakkin' novelty value. Three, you wouldn't be here with your pal if it wasn't utter desperation. I've heard what your lot say about my lot."
There was a cat. Not the orange gene-modded frankencats they called Skitties. This was a regular ordinary moggy with stripes and spots and an over-the-horizon radar for people who didn't want kitty company. The creature was making biscuits on Mars' legs in seconds, rubbing up on them and purring and sharing an amazing amount of hair all over Mars' economy jumpsuit.
Sensing Mars' distress, Jase made a weird trilling noise, closing their eyes, and patting a knee. The cat moved over for a better quality of attention. This helped Mars make up their mind. Cats, they said at home, were the laziest freeloaders. You could make dogs work, but a cat? They were without purpose. If Jase could keep a useless cat around, they might be inclined for further charity.
"My baby brother busted his spine when the factory fell down around us. He saved me. That wasn't his job... It's my job to look after him damnit..."
"I can help," offered Jase. "And if I can't help, I can get you into contact with others who can."
"What's the bill?"
"Friend? I know some folks who'd do it for the challenge."
Jase was as good as their brag, helping get Lor out of the hiding place and into their medical bay to assess the damage. This involved a lot of whistling backwards and sucking teeth, a sure sign that expensive things were going to happen.
"I'm prepared to spend the rest of my life paying for treatment," said Mars. "I know the price of one flakk-up."
Jase just snorted and said, "No, I was wincing at what they did to Lor. Deregger quote-unquote medicine did more damage than any given easy fix because cheap and nasty is allegedly good enough. Anuses[1]." Jase gave off scowling to grin. "You are going to flakking love my next stop."
The universe opened up before the both of them. Not just remedial education, but also the fact that the Galactics believed in the latter half of "medical care".
The next stop was a B'Nari medical station, offering the best of all possible medical technology at the cost of installation and orientation. The B'Nari could do anything. Make Lor an immortal body. Grow him a new one. Grow him a better one. They even offered one to Mars with pristine health ready to go. Same genes, longer telomeres as standard. Or, the Medik said dismissively, they could just fix as much as they could and leave them with their original bodies. Which was not an option for Lor.
The doctors back home had made sure that Lor would live, but that was all. They could have done so much better, but they went for the quickest fix with an aim to keeping Lor coming back for more quick fixes that only compounded the problems they'd caused in the first place. The best option was an entirely new body.
Since Lor had spent so much time in stasis, he asked if his new body could be made to match the age he was supposed to be. It was an ego thing, but if it cost extra, then he could deal with going without.
Mars was more concerned with the work they'd need to do to pay it all off.
"Don't sweat," said Jase. "They overcharge the deregger CEO's in order to support desperate cases like you. Likely, all they'll do is make you mop a few floors."
Which was why so many who escaped Deregger space never went back.
[1] Some people learn how to swear from cheap translation software.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / lexaarts]
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