Healthcare was a massive business in the empire. And in Starhold, it was more important than right about anywhere else.
Even if you put all the actual injuries, diseases, disorders, and other things medicine traditionally dealt with aside, there was still a massive sector of services for anything from body modification to tempering aid.
As with everything else with Starhold, it was all shoved into a compact, space-saving package. A shimmering white building rested close to the center of the city, a swarm of flying vehicles going to and fro, docking on the countless platforms littering the walls of the hive-like structure.
It was a strange sight to behold for Freddy. The sheer immensity of an industry that acted as the backbone of archhuman development. And yet, he needed almost nothing this titan of a system had to offer.
Almost.
“You okay? You’re looking a bit sweaty.” Vlad noted as he helped Freddy up on a platform headed to one of the higher floors.
“Yeah,” Freddy said, nodding. “Things are getting a bit wobbly, that’s all.”
The man scowled. “You want to go somewhere to sleep off the fatigue first?”
Freddy shook his head. “No. I don’t think there’s a better place to go to than a soul clinic.”
Vlad laughed. “Fair enough.”
They settled on the seats on the small platform at the dock, tying the straps. Vladimir tapped his credit card to a sensor to pay for the transportation, and then pressed a button for the floor they were headed to.
Freddy sighed in exasperation as he noted the seventy-thousand dollar price tag for the quick trip up what was basically a glorified elevator. The worst part was that it didn’t even surprise him.
Prices for right about anything in Starhold were absolutely mental. Unless you were filthy rich, you couldn’t even afford to breathe in this place.
He looked down to the device he had bought at the adjudicator’s behest less than an hour ago. It was blocky and heavy as hell, but that didn’t bother him. Because it was a phone. A real freakin’ phone!
Whether they would ever resemble the legendary devices from the pre-Rift era, Freddy wasn’t sure, but this was already out of his wildest fantasies. He could just dial these little numbers in there and then call anyone else who also had one. How cool was that?
The reason he got a phone was so he could stay in contact with Vladimir, and, well, it didn’t hurt to have one. He was sure there were at least a couple other individuals who might use it to contact him.
But that wasn’t something he would worry about for now.
Putting it away into his storage ring, he waited for the platform to take off.
After a couple of minutes of waiting, they finally started floating, and he got a good look at the surrounding city.
Man… this place is really amazing.
The buildings were organized extremely neatly, laid out in a grid of concentric circles. Above them, there were a number of floating private residences. He was curious about what it cost to live in a place like that. He smirked. Wonder if there’s a badge for having a property floating above the city?
Oh, who am I kidding?
Of course there’s a badge for that.
The platform soon entered the dense swarm of other flying constructs, and Freddy couldn’t help but clench his cheeks. They wouldn’t crash. He knew they wouldn’t crash. Even if they did, it wasn’t like he’d get seriously hurt, even if he fell from a height of hundreds of meters.
But none of that stopped his lizard brain from freaking the hell out.
After what felt like forever but was closer to half a minute, they docked on the platform to one of the highest floors of the massive clinic, where they unbuckled their belts and entered the building.
The docking area was a sterile platform of polished white walls, with a number of people rushing along the hundreds of entrances. They tracked down a door leading to one of the reception areas and headed straight for it, where an even more sterile white hallway welcomed them into its cold embrace.
Freddy didn’t doubt that the interior was expanded to an absurd degree to get as much space as possible. It was hard to tell, though.
While the dock was jam packed with people, this hallway was surprisingly empty. Most people they passed jogged by them. One person even drove by on a scooter.
The floor they were on was the one dedicated to mental aid and soul therapy. The two went hand-in-hand, apparently.
After a few minutes of walking, they found themselves before the entrance to a room with a beautiful woman sitting behind a reception desk.
“I’ll be turning back here,” Vladimir said.
“Okay. I’ll call you when I’m finished.”
“Wait.” He raised a hand. “Before you go in, put your special medals on.”
Freddy cocked an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Those are medals of military service, Freddy. You’re a decorated veteran who got hurt in the Empire’s Eternal War. If you walk in with those medals on your chest, they’ll file a request to the imperial treasury to cover the expenses of your treatment. You’re almost guaranteed to have the whole cost covered. Or most of it, at the very least.”
“Wow. Pays to be willing to die for the empire, I guess.” He took out the medals and tapped them to his chest.
“Not really. But it does pay to be willing to die for the empire if”—he tapped the slayer medal with a grin—”you’re also extremely powerful.”
Freddy snorted. “Right. Anything else before I head in?”
The man nodded. “Odds are, with the damage you’ve suffered, they’re gonna keep you here for a while.”
“How long?”
Vlad’s head bounced from side to side. “Weeks. Maybe even over a month.”
“Huh. That’s less time than I thought. I expected the treatment to last years.”
Vlad gave him a tight smile. “It probably will. This will just be the first step.”
Freddy sighed. “Figures. So I should call you when I’m out, then?”
“I’d prefer it if you kept me updated about the situation, but I’m a patient guy.”
Freddy nodded. “Thank you, man. You’ve been a lot of help.”
“You’re welcome. And best of luck.” They shook hands, and the former adjudicator turned the other way, heading the way they came.
After a few moments to gather himself, Freddy walked inside. “Here we go.”
The reception room was small, with only a single receptionist. Well, there was a number of other such rooms in the building, but even then, it was strange for this place to be so desolate. Soul therapy was either a lot more expensive than Freddy estimated or a lot fewer people needed it than he thought.
“Hello,” he awkwardly greeted the lady at the desk.
She took one look at him, and her practiced pleasant expression was instantly tinged by a faint urgency. “Welcome, honored sir. How can I help you?”
“Uh, yeah, I was looking to check in for soul therapy.”
She nodded. “Can you please hand me your ID?”
The process of getting himself checked in didn’t take long. A few minutes later, he was escorted into an empty doctor’s office.
“Please wait here,” the woman said. “The doctor will arrive in five minutes.”
Freddy nodded.
By the time he turned around, the woman was gone and a strange man was sitting on a chair before him, wearing a white coat. He was pale, with long, voluminous blond hair nearly reaching the floor behind him. The man’s eyes were a clear pink, and his cheeks sunken. His entire body was almost as thin as Freddy’s.
“What the—” Freddy flinched back.
“Quite an extreme blank out you had there.” The man looked at the watch clasped to his wrist. “Almost fifty whole minutes of staring at me, completely unaware of your surroundings.” His gaze sharpened as he continued staring down. “I wonder how you’re even alive if your soul is in such a state.” Looking back up, he pierced Freddy with a cold gaze. “Tell me. Why are you here?”
“Uh. Hi? Nice to meet you?” Freddy chuckled nervously as he deflated. “Sorry about that.”
“Why are you here?” the man repeated himself.
Freddy paused at that. “For soul treatment? I hope?”
“You hope? I am a soul therapist, and you hope I will treat your soul? What else would I do?”
“I’m sorry, I—”
“Give me your hand,” the man ordered, and Freddy reflexively obeyed.
The soul therapist placed some kind of glassy device in Freddy’s hand. It was almost an orb, but it had a weird dangling metal bit protruding out the side. “Channel your essence into this until your stars are empty.”
“I… Okay, I guess.” He started channeling. The device greedily absorbed his essence, with the orb glowing a shimmering combination of the three colors of his affinities. He winced as he noticed the deep blue color, but figured that the patient confidentiality here had to be top-tier, so he wasn’t too concerned.
“Are you usually this confused or do you believe it to be related to the state your soul is in?” the doctor asked as he moved his gaze to the orb.
Freddy winced at the question. “A bit of both, I guess.”
“Fight it. This is not the time to be confused.”
Freddy nodded.
A few minutes later, his stars were drained, and the doctor snatched the device from his hand. He moved over to a large screen in the corner of the room, and plugged the metal bit into a device beside it.
The screen lit up with some kind of folding black and white image that made absolutely no sense to Freddy.
To the doctor, however, it wasn’t a pleasant sight. He growled. “What the hell is this? Did you try to kill yourself with some kind of soul poison?”
“No, I uh… I offered my soul up to an Unholy Blessing.”
The doctor whirled to face him, eyes manic. “And you lived?” He stared for a few more moments before turning to face the screen again. “How did you stitch the soul tissue up like this?”
Freddy hesitated.
The doctor gave an exasperated sigh and rapidly scratched the back of his head. “Who do you think I am? Do you doubt my integrity? You want me to kick you out? Speak, you idiot. Your life is at stake here, and I need to know what’s happening.”
“Right, uh, sorry. I’m just not sure how to explain it.” He tried his best to retell how he found the Cycle Rose and what it did to his soul.
The man squinted at him throughout the whole retelling, and kept checking the screen every few seconds. Once Freddy was done, the doctor hummed. “You’re telling the truth. What a bizarre thing you’ve found. Now, good news or bad news?”
“I think I’m in the mood for the good news, first.”
“This construct you found did you a massive favor. Not only did it save your life, it kept your soul in an excellent state to start the healing process from.”
Freddy sighed. “And the bad news?”
“Your soul is absolutely fucked. I have never in my career seen worse soul damage than this, so congratulations are in order, I guess. You’re a walking miracle.” The man walked over to the chair and sat down before Freddy again. “How much do you know?”
“About soul damage, I’m guessing? Little to nothing.”
“Fantastic. I’m not going to teach you everything you need to know. Do not ask me questions. Do not even think about anything I do not inform you of. This is extremely important. Have I made myself clear?”
Freddy nodded.
“Good.” The man leaned back. “Other than holding all your little superpowers, your soul is also the vessel of choice. It's what holds you, at your very core. It is the thing that directs every conscious choice you make, and it's what allows you to subjectively experience the mechanical processes of the flesh computer inside your skull. You’ve suffered immense damage to the very core of your being. Do you understand what this means?”
Dread filled Freddy as he thought through the implications of that. “A part of me has… died?”
“Kind of, sort of, not really. Technically, even if you lose a finger, you’ve lost a part of you. It's highly counterproductive to think about it that way when there are ways to recover what has been lost. Now, can you tell me why you think I didn’t simply give you a soul elixir and chase you out of my office?”
Freddy thought about it for a moment. “I have no idea.”
“Fantastic answer, and I dearly hope you’re being honest.” The man took a notepad out of his storage ring and jotted something down. “While the soul damage you’ve suffered is severe, you’re at the optimal state to get started with the recovery. We’ll start with 45 days.”
Freddy raised an eyebrow. “Of what?”
“You won’t know. You will, in fact, be administered amnestics to make sure you don’t remember what was done to you.”
He tensed. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that.”
The man stopped writing. “Then go away and stop wasting my time. I personally recommend chugging an expensive elixir instead. I relish knowing you’ll learn exactly why you’re stupid and reckless.”
Freddy clenched his jaw. “Can I ask just one question?”
“No.” The therapist sighed and closed his notepad. “You have zero clue who I am, do you?”
He was taken aback. “I… no, I don’t know who you are.”
The man smirked at him. He raised a hand, and a stack of 17 badges appeared, a bit over half of them purple, the rest, white. “I am the expert on soul therapy. The empire seems to hold you in high regard, Mr. Stern. Not only did they immediately agree to cover the cost of your treatment, they also asked for me to be personally assigned to your case.” He put the badges away. “Now, are you going to shut up and listen to the one person you should never question on matters of soul recovery, or do you want to squander the tremendous reward you were given?”
Freddy’s head dropped. “I apologize.”
“And?”
“And… I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
“Great!” The man got up. “Now come.”
Freddy followed him to a neighboring room, where he was told to lie down on a bed. The man pressed a needle into his arm, injecting some kind of substance.
“Please, recount as many of the flashcards as you can. Take your time.”
“Uh…” Freddy blinked the confusion away. “Sorry, flashcards?”
The doctor grinned. “Fantastic. We’ve found your tolerance in one go. I’m not a superstitious man, but it just feels good when things go so smoothly, you know?”
Freddy gave the man a strained smile. “Yeah… sure.” He had no idea what the hell just happened, but he guessed he was probably just administered his first dose of those amnestics the doctor had mentioned.
“All right.” The doctor jotted something down real quick. “You will go to sleep now. I want you well-rested when we get started.”
He was escorted to a surprisingly nice room. Not only was it well decorated, it was full of evocative art pieces, with a number of beautiful paintings all over the walls, and even a few sculptures. Books lined the hardwood shelves.
“You will be spending most of your time in this room for the next 45 days. Now, can you please tell me what your favorite animal is?”
Freddy thought about it for a moment. “I don’t really have one, honestly.”
“Do you like dogs?”
“Not really.”
“What about cats?”
He shook his head.
“Snakes? Birds? Hamsters? Rats?”
“I’m not much of an animal guy.”
The doctor squinted at him before jotting something down again. “You get the goom.”
“Sorry, I get the what?”
“Have a good rest, Mr. Stern. I recommend reading for relaxation. See you tomorrow.” With that, the man walked out.
Freddy moved over to the plush bed. It was damn comfortable. A few minutes later, the entrance to his room opened as a woman walked in, carrying some kind of fat creature in her arms. It was about as big as the woman’s torso, with a flat, ugly face, and four stubby legs.
The woman slowly put the creature down. It looked like it could barely stand, its chubby stomach scraping on the carpet as it gave the wall a thousand yard stare.
Freddy gave it a look, then turned to face the woman. “Uhm. Sorry, what is that thing?”
The woman frowned at him, before looking down at a paper she was holding. “It says here you requested an emotional support goom.”
Freddy sighed with a strained smile. “Right. My goom is here. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome sir. Have a pleasant stay.” She turned around, leaving the room and closing the door.
The goom let out a loud fart and made a surprisingly human-sounding moan as it did.
“I should have just asked for a damn dog.”
***
Freddy arrived in the doctor’s office the next day.
Before they got started on whatever mystery treatment he would be getting later, there were a few things the doctor had him do, first.
He was handed a giant questionnaire, with over a thousand different questions. From simple preferences to extremely complex moral scenarios, the questions seemed to be aimed at either giving himself or the doctor a better understanding of who Freddy was as a person. Or both, maybe.
It took him a bit over seven hours to finish them, and by then, he had a tremendous headache. He was only given a few minutes of rest before he was moved over to another room.
Again, he was put on a table, and again, he was administered amnestics. “Just relax, Mr. Stern.” For the first time since Freddy met the man, the doctor adopted a gentle look. He got down to a knee and grabbed Freddy’s hand. “Do not think about it. Even though you will forget all of this, it's still important not to dwell on the reasons behind this treatment too much. All right?”
Freddy gave a reluctant nod.
“Good. Let’s get you started then.”
The wheeled bed he was resting on was moved over to an inconspicuous hole in the wall. It slid in seamlessly. Freddy’s face was less than a foot away from some kind of screen. “Is everything fine in there?” the doctor asked.
“Uh. Yeah… I guess…”
“Good. Let’s get started then.” The entrance to the hole slammed shut. leaving Freddy alone, staring at a screen that was in the middle of turning on. An image of a blue sky with scattered clouds appeared, and a gentle harp song started in the background.
Words appeared, followed by a female voice repeating what was written.
WELCOME.
PLEASE TAKE TEN DEEP BREATHS.
ONCE YOU’RE FINISHED, SAY “READY”.
He did so. “Ready.”
THANK YOU.
PLEASE REPEAT THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT:
The text vanished, before a quoted sentence appeared with a shrill ding.
MY NAME IS FREDDY STERN.
He cocked an eyebrow. “My name is Freddy Stern.”
A pleasant ding sound followed as the screen lit up with a green color.
THANK YOU.
PLEASE REPEAT THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT:
Again, another set of words appeared.
I AM A HUMAN BEING.
Freddy felt his heart rate elevate. But as instructed, he said, “I’m a human being.”
The screen lit up red with a loud buzzer noise.
“Jesus Christ!” he shouted.
PLEASE REPEAT THE PHRASES ON THE SCREEN VERBATIM.
Freddy took a deep breath to calm himself down. “I am a human being!”
This time, the screen lit up green again with the same pleasant ding as before.
THANK YOU.
Another set of words popped up.
I AM NOT SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO CHILDREN.
“What the fuck is this?”
Red light, buzzer.
“I’m not sexually attracted to children!” he said, almost panicked, and again, red light, buzzer—
PLEASE REPEAT THE PHRASES ON THE SCREEN VERBATIM.
He was shaking at this point, a persistent sick feeling stabbing through his gut. “I am not sexually attracted to children.”
Red light, buzzer.
PLEASE REPEAT WITH MORE ENTHUSIASM.
“I am not sexually attracted to children.”
Green light, pleasant ding.
THANK YOU.
PLEASE REPEAT THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT:
This time, the screen felt like it was empty of words a little longer than the last few times. And then, another set of words appeared.
I DO NOT CRAVE HUMAN FLESH.