Echoes of Harmony

Medical Office

Space Station Vertyn, Stariek Orbit

4 March 3303

The medical wing on board Vertyn was large, taking up an entire section of the station for itself. Parts of it were dedicated to treating ailments encountered by the adult occupants. The majority was reserved for the predominantly child and teenage population onboard.

Near the entrance from the dormitory section of the station, there was a large waiting room for the latter when they were getting treated for illness or receiving their semiannual checkups. The walls were made of sterile white panels that seemed to glow with light. Conduits ran up them periodically, pulsating red lights indicating that they were active with power. Chairs bolted to the ground formed neat rows throughout the center and along the walls. At one end sat a sort of reception desk with a trio of nurses checking in the children as they arrived. To either side of this was a door leading to the offices.

Skylar sat in one of the waiting room chairs, letting his feet dangle and swing gently back and forth like pendulums. No matter how many times he had to go to the doctor on board the station, he never got used to it. Ever since his first visit, after he woke up in the middle of an operation and subsequently found out his parents were taken from him, the smells and sights made him squirm. If he knew the guards wouldn’t stun and drag him back, he would’ve run from the room.

Several other cadets ranging from children even younger than when he was first brought to teenagers his own age sat in some of the other chairs around the room. Some of them appeared as nervous as he was. Others seemed nonplussed with bored expression dominating their faces. At random intervals, the door on one side or the other would hiss open, either revealing a doctor calling a patient or a child walking out.

After waiting for nearly half an hour, Skylar’s usual doctor appeared in the doorway. She was a middle aged woman, her brown hair tied into a tight bun. Wide rimmed glasses sat in front her eyes. She wore the same white medical robes as all the doctors on board the station. In one hand was a datapad that she swiped through a few screens on before looking up.

“Skylar Reid,” Doctor Leah Kubin called out. She smiled as he hopped up and walked over to her. “How are you doing today?”

“Fine,” he said, shrugging and walking through the door. His heart beat loudly in his ears with each step he took. To either side was a long hallway with branching paths off of it. Black doors stood in stark contrast against the white walls. Plaques with glowing red letters and numbers sat just to the side of each door.

“We’ll be in room A-1 today, alright?” Her saccharine voice did nothing to assuage Skylar’s fears.

He grunted in response, rapidly approaching the familiar door and letting it hiss open in front of him. Inside was a small room, only two meters to a side, with an examination pod on one side and a chair next to cabinets on the other. The pod currently sat open, and the screen attached next to the door said “READY” in green letters.

Before the doctor even had a chance to tell him to do so, he stepped into the pod. Under him, a pair of feet outlined by small lights followed his steps to the center. He turned and lifted his arms just as a pair of rests came out of the sides of the pod at the precise height for him to lay a forearm on each.

“We must have you in here too often,” Doctor Kubin said, smiling as she pressed a button to close the door and mark the room as occupied. “Maybe we can cut it back to every six months rather than every two soon.”

“Why change now?” Skylar muttered. After five years of a checkup every month, and now two of a checkup every other month, it would feel odd to do it any less frequently.

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“Comfortable?” She seemed to ignore the sarcasm he uttered and looked him up and down, making sure he was in the correct position.

Satisfied, without waiting for an answer, she pressed a button on the screen outside the pod. The door hissed shut, closing him inside. A whirring started as the machine blazed to life. Scanning arms, one in front and one behind, lit up green as they shone a bright line of light between themselves onto his body. Skylar felt his breathing increase. He clenched his fists in an attempt to get it under control and squeezed his eyes shut. The arms spun in a circle in a blur of activity. After only a few seconds, they came to rest once more and the door opened with a hiss.

When he opened was eyes, he took a deep breath to steady himself. Doctor Kubin looked down at the datapad in her hand and seemed to be reading the results. Though they never told him why, the scans always seemed to be most intensive around his head. She zoomed in on this portion. Skylar tried craning his neck slightly to see what she was looking at without her noticing, but she swiped to a different screen and looked up at him with a smile.

“Well, your overall health seems fine as per usual. However, we have noticed certain developmental trends that have reached an… alarming state, for lack of a better term.” She sat in the chair and took off her glasses, setting them on the counter next to her. “You seem to be on the path to suffering from malnutrition. Are you getting enough to eat during meals?”

“What?” Skylar’s heart hammered in his ears for an entirely different reason now. He hadn’t expected them to be able to notice that he wasn’t eating like he should. Though, now that the thought went through his head, it was stupid of him to think they couldn’t tell. “Yeah, I think so.”

“No one’s stopping you from eating or anything?” She leaned forward. “The meals are carefully constructed to ensure you receive all of the necessary vitamins and minerals to grow healthily. If someone is interfering with your ability to eat, we need to know, Skylar.”

“No, I’m fine. The food’s fine. Everything’s fine.” He cast his eyes down to the ground. Hopefully they wouldn’t be able to tell it was a lie. However, he doubted that saying he felt obligated to skip meals to get more training in was a valid excuse. Not to mention the more time he spent out of the mess hall, the less time there was for people to harass him.

“Well, in any case, I’m going to prescribe you some dietary correction tablets.” As she spoke, she flipped between screens on the datapad, typing in various notes before a notification came through to his CAM about the prescription. “You only need to take one a day, and it should help get you back in the healthy shape we like seeing you within a year. We recommend taking it either with water or during a meal, but neither is necessary. Do remember this isn’t designed to replace eating. Still get breakfast, lunch, and dinner as usual. Let me know if you have any troubles with that, and we will figure something out, okay? The Commandant and no one else need know.”

Skylar opened his mouth to say that he didn’t need any pills, but she held up a finger to stop him.

“You know the rules, Skylar.” She smiled knowingly. “No arguing with the doctor. Now, we’ll schedule a follow up for next month to see how you are progressing with the supplements, okay?”

“I thought we were done with the monthly checkups,” Skylar moaned, fully aware he was sounding like a child.

“So did I, but that was before I found out you were going to be malnourished. Until you’re better, we’re going back to monthly, and every six months is right out at this point. Now, were there any concerns that you’ve been having? Any unusual pains or anything lately?”

“No, Doctor Kubin,” he said on autopilot without even stopping to think about it. After all, the only new pains he had were a result of the other kids punching or kicking him. He didn’t need a doctor to tell him that. And when he had tried telling anyone when it first started years ago, nothing changed, so why bother?

“Hm.” She pursed her lips as she stared at him, her eyes piercing into him as if trying to read his mind. After a few moments, she looked back down at the datapad and tapped some more notes into it. “Very well. I’ll see you in a month to check up again. Let me walk you out.”

Skylar didn’t say anything as he followed her out. Inwardly, he couldn’t believe that he was being prescribed the DCTs. He heard rumors of them from snatches of conversations other kids had there, but he’d never actually seen them. One thing was clear about the whole checkup: He’d need to make sure he did a better job hiding any discomfort. Not only from Doctor Kubin, but also from Lina. If she knew about it, she’d do nothing but worry.

As he made his way through the corridors back to his dormitory, his pocket slightly heavier with a small bottle of capsules, he resolved himself to not tell Lina anything about this.