FUTURE FORCE: 5th Episode

"Help me!"

The voice was in basic Earth language, and the young man collapsing against her was too near death to even think in a tongue not his own. T took off her face mask and slipped it over his.

Two long indrawn breaths and she heard, "I need a place to hide from those men we hear coming."

The young man stood erect and looked at the person who had held him, but T was busy removing her cape, which had the universal medical insignia boldly displayed on the back, and slipping it around the young man's shoulders. She lifted the face mask and kissed him as the group of men came in sight, then lowered it again as she angrily said, "Why do you stare? Haven't you ever seen two people kissing before?"

The group broke up and ran off in different directions as T said, "Come inside my ship. You can get the medical attention you need right now, then we can decide where you want to go."

"First let me say how grateful I am, and the name is Sean Finn," he said in halting Basic.
"Everyone calls me "T" although my real name is Teresa Petrovka," said the young lady, "but there is no time for socializing. We should be gone by the time those men come back. Where do you want to go? I was on my way back home to Earth."

"That's right for me," said Sean. "That is if I haven't died and gone to Heaven."

"You're still alive, but barely," said T, "so lie down and be quiet. The extra oxygen will put you to sleep, and we can talk when you are rested."

T's manifest listed her as a Doctor T Petrovka, born on Equus, with never a hint that she was a female and considered herself a native of Earth. She had always kept her gender a secret by wearing baggy clothes, a face mask, and disguising her voice. She had majored in Child Psychology, but was proficient in treating minor wounds. She had just been told she was no longer welcome on Cayuga, the planet she had just left. The men objected to the teaching of equality between the sexes.

The fact that a Dr. T Petrovka had left Cayuga, and there was now a female aboard to travel to the doctor's next assignment, should arouse no curiosity from men seeking a male doctor or an escaped prisoner. T had given her mother's place of birth as Soloma and hoped all searches into her background would end there where records had been destroyed by their recent cataclysm. She deliberately disguised every aspect of her background; even to giving Venus as her place of graduation. She did not mention her father so no harm could come to her family on Earth in case she made enemies, and even by Planet Earth time of 2390, she knew there would be some. She had been told to treat only the children's cuts and broken bones, but she had been caught counseling them this time.

T put the ship on auto as soon as she hit lightspeed, and went to check on her passenger. The feel of his lips on hers still lingered, much to her annoyance. There had been too much she wanted to accomplish to be bothered by thoughts of romance. She still wanted none of that nonsense, she told herself as she gazed down on the sleeping young man she had rescued. He was interesting looking she decided. She liked the tousled brown hair that was neatly cut and clean in spite of the red dust that was caught here and there by dried sweat. The neat eyebrows and long lashes that swept his tanned cheeks would look nice on his children. That is when she turned so abruptly to leave that she overturned a glass.

"Please don't leave," she heard in a soft entreaty. "I want to tell you why I was running, but I can't. It would be too dangerous for you to know. Those people will not stop until they find me. They will trace every ship that left as it is. I should have given myself up, but I have something important to tell the High Tribunal at Venus. I do not want you involved in this. You have done enough already; too much I'm afraid. I even told you my real name, and that is against the rules."

"Drink this," demanded T as she poured a concoction into two glasses. "It has all the vitamins and minerals needed by Earth people. As you see I am drinking the same thing so you will know it is not poisoned." It took an effort not to kiss him again. Being offensive was the only ruse that came to mind.

Sean chuckled and held up his empty glass to her as he said, "May I kiss you this time?"

"There's nothing I'd like better," said T ruefully, "but my better judgment says no for now. Shall we head for Venus first so you can report in?"