Chapter 5: 5: Discharge

The package was rather nondescript, just a small plastic shipping box with a latched lid. Violet successfully walked over to it; she was slowly starting to get her groove back in regards to how her body moved, partly thanks to how much better it felt walking around like this. Right now, it felt like the only thing holding Violet back from anything she might want to do with her new legs was her own inexperience, and she could overcome that with practice anyway.

Violet inspected the box for a moment, noting a large reddish-orange stamp printed on the lid. An unknown language which consisted mostly of slashmarks and crosses ran across the top of the label, with English lettering underneath it.

It read:

CIVILIAN INTAKE AID/AMENITIES
SHINE DISTRICT GOVERNMENT OFFICE - VRAU'HAEL SPACEPORT
LAEVON SYSTEM

Well, if anything it answered where off earth Violet had ended up. She popped the latches and lifted the lid off, setting it gently to the side and looking inside.

At the top was a vacuum-sealed bag with what looked to be some basic clothes, which were hard to really get a good look at while they were still inside the bag. Violet set them aside, and peered at the rest of the contents. Next was an over-the-shoulder handbag made of some cheap synthetic fabric, which she opened and also set off to the side after inspecting it.

Everything else was in small foil bags with tear-off tops that resembled the ones collectible cards came in. The first one was about fifteen small, plastic rectangular chips with different markings on them in that strange language. Each one was dark grey with different colored accents around their text, and had a smaller metal chip embedded into one end. Violet assumed these were currency of some sort, which she breathed a small sigh of relief over.

Another bag contained a card made of the same material. It had smooth beveled corners and a small digital screen on one half, but was mostly featureless otherwise. The third bag was the most interesting out of all of them, containing a clear plexiglass device that Violet immediately recognized as one of those holographic phone things that Ashburn had been using. It had cut, chamfered upper corners and an unpainted square metal plate near the bottom that her thumb and forefingers rested on when she gripped it.

The prospect of having one herself made her excited. Honestly, with how things were going at the moment, it was hard not to be excited about her current situation. She pressed on the weird holo-phone's metal plate, remembering how Ashburn had used hers, and it booted up quickly, a loading screen flickering into view just above the screen from tiny projectors embedded in the metal section.

"Found everything alright?" Ashburn asked, walking over to join Violet at the counter. Even leaning over a bit to prop herself up by her elbows, her face was still a bit above Violet's eye level.

"I think so. Is this like a cell phone?" Violet asked, giving the device a once-over and then showing it to Ash.

"Yeah. Cellphone, Holopad, Hand Terminal, whatever you want to call it. It's just a personal device for communications, location services, browsing the internet and the like. It's got an English language setting, so you shouldn't have to worry about learning Unstaegar unless that interests you."

"Unstaegar? Is that your native language?" Violet asked, sounding more curious.

"Yeah, most daemorans learn standard English if they work in any profession where they might interact with humans. Unstaegar is a little... difficult for humans to speak. You folks don't really have the same vocal cords we do."

"Really? You can speak English just fine, though. Sorry if that's weird to ask about." Violet cocked her head slightly.

"It's fine! We just have... a lot more range and control, on account of our physiology. We look pretty similar to humans overall, but there's a lot of other stuff going on under the hood."

"Ah, that makes sense." Interesting, Violet would have to ask about that more later. In the meantime, she turned her attention back to the package and its contents. "I assume these are currency of some sort? And this is..." She said as she picked up the featureless plastic card. "...Huh. I honestly have no idea what this is."

"Yeah, those are Charms, they're legal tender here. The green ones are the lowest denomination, then up to blue then purple, then gold, then red, et cetera. You won't need them much if you just use this," She said as she pointed at the card, "Which is your ID assuming you wanted to register. We can do that now, if you had made a decision, but I didn't want to push you into anything. I know it's a big decision being made pretty quickly."

Violet turned around, pondering for a moment as she leaned back against the counter, slowly turning the blank ID over in her hands. Even though she was still thinking on it for a bit, she knew that she'd pretty much settled on the decision to stay when the prospect was first brought up.

"I think I'd like to register, yes. Nowhere in particular I'd need to be right now. Does registering restrict my ability to change my mind, if I wanted to leave?"

Ashburn tapped a finger against her chin as she thought. "As far as I'm aware, only if you've been convicted of a crime that would jeopardize your freedom of movement. Even then, deportation options might be available? I can't say I'm an expert on that, but... If you want to sit on it, I could contact someone who might know-"

"It's fine, my mind was mostly made up anyway. I'll do it." Violet interrupted.

"...Oh, well then! Let me get you a genetic footprint kit."

Violet expected Ashburn to leave the room, but she simply typed something into her phone. A few minutes later, the requested kit was deposited on the counter by a dumbwaiter-style cargo delivery system. From within, Ashburn pulled out a small plastic tablet with a pair of glass cutouts, a cotton swab, and a sticky square of plastic coated in adhesive.

"I'm going to swab the inside of your cheek with this, to get the saliva sample. Say 'Aaah." Ashburn said as she walked over and bent down towards Violet, rather close to her face, nudging the human girl's lips open with the tip of the swab and the knuckle of her index finger.

She knew she'd felt it a few times already, but geez, even her fingers were warm. Her body heat was tangible even from a few inches away, pleasantly radiating off of her. Violet stifled a blush at the daemoran's proximity and opened her mouth obediently, allowing Ashburn to gather a sample. She didn't want to be rude to the tall warm demon alien girl.

Ashburn pressed the saliva sample against one of the glass cutouts on the tablet, and peeled the plastic square off its backing. She'd quickly had Violet press her thumb down against the adhesive before sticking the square to the remaining cutout.

A green checkmark symbol illuminated through the plastic surface of the tablet, and Ashburn handed it to Violet. "Hold that over the ID for a moment."

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Violet did so, and after a short processing period, a list of identifying information began to show up on the surface of the ID card. Interestingly, the info wasn't on the screen, which instead generated a front-facing portrait of Violet seemingly automatically. It was pretty impressive to watch, if a bit unnerving, seeing her own face knitted together in front of her from just the information provided by her genetic footprint.

"So that's all there was?"

"Almost! You can also input a name using your hand terminal. It's not used for anything legal though; that just goes through your identification number, so you can change the name in the system if you feel the need."

"That's good to know, at least. Wish earth's IDs had worked like that." Violet nodded, turning her terminal on. Ashburn showed her how to get it set up to interface with her ID, so that her phone would only respond to her actions, and she simply entered her first name when prompted. She opted to leave the surname blank for now, shoving aside some complex feelings about her past as she did so.

Once she was finished, she pocketed her phone; thankfully, her suit had zippered pockets and pouches woven into it.  She put everything else she'd received into her bag.

She had only just pulled its zipper closed when a loud thunderclap rang out, the entire hospital room shaking violently around her.

 

Violet was knocked off her feet before she'd even registered anything had happened, her body hitting the floor with a thud as everything seemed to turn upside down, and then right side up again. It happened two more times, with Violet not even getting a chance to come to her senses before developing a strong feeling of needing to puke.

She lay on the floor as the rumbling sounds around her continued for a few moments, mixed with muffled, confused yelling audible from outside the room. Some sort of alarm was blaring far too loudly, as was to be expected, she supposed. Violet picked her head up off the ground as dust, ceiling tiles and small fragments of debris clattered to the ground around her.  Her head was spinning and her gut felt like it had been twisted into several complex knots, but she didn't seem to be too hurt otherwise.

So, an explosion. Probably, at least. Violet had never been caught in one before, even though she'd once seen one happen when one of the other mechanics' apprentices played a poorly-planned prank on another student. That had just been a small one, though; The shockwave from this one had shaken the entire building. The entire station? Violet still wasn't sure on that.

Right, priorities. She got herself up and standing again, not bothering to count how many times she'd done so anymore.

Violet looked at her surroundings; the previously calm - if sterile - room was now a wreck. A haze of grey dust hung in the air. Boxes of medical supplies and other assorted debris had been strewn across the room by the blast, and most of the machines near the bed were toppled, damaged if not broken completely. At least her bag seemed to be okay, having landed next to her; she quickly pulled it over her shoulder.

From behind her, Violet heard a few stuttered hacks and coughs, and she turned around to see Ashburn having pushed herself into a sitting position before she began to stand up. Her voice was more hoarse than before, but she rose to her feet as sure-footed as ever.

"W-what in the Mother's ever-loving... fuck...?" She swore as she finally opened her eyes, looking at the state of the room she and Violet were in. "What happened?"

"...Something big exploded." Violet said matter-of-factly.

"No kidding. Y-you okay?" Ashburn said as she dusted herself off. It was a futile effort, but she at least managed to get a few small pieces of debris out of the fabric of her scrubs.

"Nausea, but fine. I have to get out of here now." Violet said. Her own suit didn't get too dirty, thanks to the materials it was made out of. Violet was thankful for it, but reminded herself not to get distracted. Something bad had happened, and she needed to leave. Ashburn would at least know a way out of here, she figured.

"Hold on. First, let's get out of this room. We'll find some of the other staff and head to an evac site outside the hospital." Ashburn said, Violet nodding in response. The pair quickly moved over to and through the door, which had come open during the blast. 

There weren't many people in the hallway outside Violet's room, but at the far end of the hall, several figures were standing at a set of double doors. Two of them, a red daemoran woman in a lab coat and a human woman in scrubs, were both pulling at the manual override handles on the doors in an attempt to get them to open. A distance back from the doors, a few other daemorans in medical gowns were watching them struggle. The daemoran doctor saw Violet and Ashburn stepping out of the hall, and yelled out to them over the noise. 

"Assistant Ashburn, is that you!?"

"Yes, Dr. Lipano, it's me! Are you all okay?"

"No idea! Some huge shockwave hit the building, and now all the main doors are jammed; We can't get to the evacuation routes! Help us get this door open!"

Before Ashburn had a chance to take a step, both of the doors were suddenly blown backwards off their hinges, staggering everyone else in the hall and sending both the doctor and her human assistant careening through the air in a cloud of smoke. They both slid across the floor with sickening impacts, bouncing violently against the hallway tiles before coming to rest.

Ashburn immediately moved to keep Violet from toppling in the wake of the shockwave, grabbing the girl and shielding them both as the debris and shaking from the blast subsided. The daemoran saw the injured bodies of her fellow medical workers on the floor, and cried out in alarm. "DOC! Dr, Lipano, Emma! Are you two alright!?" Ashburn asked, still occupied with keeping Violet steady.

Even as Ashburn's arms encircled her, every fiber of Violet's being was telling her she needed to get out of here. She tried to pull away right after the blast happened, but she wasn't able to go anywhere with Ash's firm grip keeping her in place and upright. Holy shit, was she strong. Or maybe Violet really was just that scrawny.

Of the two who had taken the worst of the blast, the human woman seemed to have been hurt the most. She didn't move from where she had landed, but Dr. Lipano immediately groaned as she staggered to her feet with a hand on her temple. "Agh... Gods, was that another explosion?

Violet was finally released from Ashburn's grasp, and she looked up in time to see Dr. Lipano's mouth fall agape as she looked out into the cloud of smoke and dust that had formed down the hall. Violet squinted to look for herself, but couldn't make anything out through the chaos; it was just formless dark blobs shifting around, and the occasional flash of red light through the haze, like being caught in a thunderstorm while on an airplane.

"V-v-" Was all that the doctor's disbelieving voice was able to get out, before a glowing-red energy projectile cut through the smoke and pierced straight through her head.

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