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    <section>I have found over my years as a doctor, or Si’l Vala as they call them here, that certain things are the same across all races:</section>


    <section>-No one hydrates well enough, whether it is water, nectar, or any other odd thing.</section>


    <section>-Every race has its own stimulant that performs the same role as coffee. I prefer the Telorian drink Bax’thar. It has notes of chocolate and caramel that I find very satisfying.</section>


    <section>-Every child likes a little treat when visiting the doctor.</section>


    <section>-From the journals of S’il Vala Tomas Martinez</section>


    <section>-------------------------------------------------------------------</section>


    Doctor Tomas led Maggie back to an examination room that looked so normal that tears rose up in Maggie''s eyes. Someone had taken great care in designing the room, getting every little detail correct, right down to the paper that covered the exam table and the slightly speckled tan floor.


    “I was expecting something more high-tech,” Maggie said around a lump in her throat. She climbed onto the exam table, letting her feet dangle. She looked down at them, the bright green fur not quite so bright anymore.


    “There are some high-tech things in here, and of course, we have some rooms that are fully advanced to the station’s technology. But for many of my patients, rooms like these provide comfort. It is a slice of home in a strange and scary place.” Doctor Tomas tossed the bandages he had removed from Maggie’s hand into a slot in the wall.


    “Do you get a lot of people from Earth here?” Maggie asked softly. How many missing people had wound up in space, too far from their homes for the cops ever to find a trace of them? How many of the people that Bobby was even now researching really had been abducted?


    “A fair few. With modern technology, the Silvarians and their allies can’t get away with abducting as many as they used to. But I can still tell the ones new to space. They look around as if everything is new, and the bits of Earth culture that appear are the strangest things they’ve ever seen.” Doctor Tomas pressed a button on the wall, a section sliding out to reveal a drawer. “I’m going to scan you to adjust the medicine to your specific body. I don’t want it making you sick.”


    “Alright.” Maggie looked down at the crystal rod the Doctor held. She had expected something like a tricorder out of Star Trek, but this thing looked more like a wand out of some fantasy novel. He ran it over her body, starting with her head and moving down slowly. Blue lights flowed from it across her skin, tingling when they passed over her burnt hand. She winced, her fingers curling at the sensation.


    “I know it hurts; you’ve been handling yourself very well, considering how bad the burn is.”


    “Well, there’s been a lot going on to keep my mind off it.” Maggie said weakly. She looked down at the burn, cringing at the sight. “Theseus said the Key was bonding with me; what does that even mean anyway? What’s it doing to me?” Her voice cracked slightly on the last question, and tears pricked her eyes. But she refused to cry.


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    If she started, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop.


    “It’s adapting itself to your biology, and becoming part of you. Think of it as grafting a new piece of skin to you or a new branch to an existing tree. Given time, luck, and compatibility, two things become one.” Doctor Tomas slid the crystal rod into a slot in the wall. His voice was calm, with just enough sympathy to be professional but still sincere.


    A screen lit up next to the slot he slid the rod into; most of the text was in a language she didn’t understand, but there was also a handy diagram of a human body. Her body. One hand was completely red, the color already halfway up her arm, following the same lines as her veins. She stared at the screen; it was easier to look at than her hand. “I don’t want it to become part of me though!”


    “I don’t blame you, but there are many things we don’t want in life that we must learn to live with.” Doctor Tomas studied the diagram and the notes that scrolled by. He let out a disappointed sigh. “When was the last time you drank any water?”


    “Can you make it not become a part of me?” Maggie blushed at the question and thought back over the last few days. She had drunk coffee, soda, even milk! But no just plain water. “Coffee is mostly water.”


    The doctor let out a small snort, his gaze stern and disapproving. “Coffee does not count as drinking water. As for making the key not become a part of you....”


    His look softened as he looked down at her palm. “Short of amputating your arm, that is highly unlikely. I can try, but we don’t know much about how Ancients technology works. We know that all their technology has a mechanical and biological part, but how does it come together? What powers it? How does it choose who it bonds to, and how? We simply don’t know.”


    “So I’m going to be stuck here?” Maggie whispered, thinking of Flame and her oh-so-casual comment about killing her. She doubted the woman would mind cutting off her arm if that meant getting what she wanted.


    Doctor Tomas was silent for a moment, and Maggie stared down at the ugly wound on her hand, the world clouding as tears started to fall. His voice was soft when he finally spoke. “I will see what I can do to remove it, but you may need to accept the idea of not returning to Earth.”


    His voice was gentle, but it felt like a knife stabbed into her heart. She thought of everyone she knew, all her friends and family back on Earth: Becca, Aunt Electra, her mom, Bobby, Ross, even Chance. It was very likely that she’d never get to see any of them again. Which meant she wouldn’t be able to help her mom either. “What am I supposed to do if I can’t go home? I have family and friends waiting for me back there! And what if that lunatic Flame decides to kill me to get this stupid key?”


    “Oftentimes, there are jobs similar to those on Earth that you can do here. As for Flame, she will not kill you. I won’t allow it.” Doctor Tomas’ voice turned hard, and she looked up in surprise. “You are my patient now, which means your well-being is my business.”


    “Then help me get home!” Maggie pleaded, desperation leaking into her voice.


    “I will do my best.” Doctor Tomas let out a sigh, and he turned back to the crystal computer. “For now, let me give you something for the pain and something to help you sleep tonight. And a quota for how much water to drink.” He was silent for a moment as he reviewed the notes on the screen, a dissatisfied look on his face. “And vitamins. I’ve never met anyone from Earth with the proper amount of vitamins in their system.”


    Maggie couldn’t help letting out a ragged laugh. Everything that was going on, and he was worried about vitamins and water intake? The man clearly had his priorities messed up!


    She doubled over, unable to stop laughing, even as tears streamed down her face. It wasn’t as if it was that funny, she just couldn’t stop. She was on an alien space station with an alien gizmo inside her hand, and this guy wanted her to drink more water and take vitamins!


    She was on an alien space station and may never go home again.


    A sob interrupted the laughter.


    She’d never go home.


    Shit.


    </section>