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“Due to your backgrounds, you’ve been chosen to work in the field of medicine.”
Elizabeth was a doctor.
Nova knew nothing about medicine. And as far as she knew neither did Meghan, who’d worked at an animal reserve. But she didn’t contradict Elizabeth and followed along down the street to the building their guide had previously identified as the clinic.
The front door led to a narrow corridor with nothing but a front desk and benches against one wall. She instructed them to sit on the bench and called each girl into her office one at a time, saving Nova for last.
“Meghan,” she called after twenty long minutes, keeping the door to her office open to let another girl step out. “Come on in.”
Nova walked in.
“Sit.”
She sat on one of the two chairs facing the desk.
“Let’s make this quick,” Elizabeth said. “The Mudden government is desperately trying to increase production in the mines. That was the main reason they sent Altair here. They thought having a Dugal family member would intimidate the Baedden council into working harder. We don’t know why they are so desperate, but we figure it must be important to them, and we could do serious damage by making sure the shipment from this region never gets to its destination.”
Nova nodded, waiting for Elizabeth to get to the part where she told her what to do.
“I won’t be involved in that mission. Baedden has a very active rebel group. You will work with them. I have made arrangements for you to meet my contact in the group this afternoon. Never mention me or the fact that you are not the real Meghan to anyone within or outside the rebel group.”
“You don’t trust them?”
“It’s not that. I just try to limit the number of people who know about me. I don’t want to jeopardize my work.”
She meant her work as a recruiter. Elizabeth and her husband Rex were responsible for kidnapping women and bringing them to Mudden to be married. That was the reason Nova believed Elizabeth could deliver what she’d promised her, a new identity. The women they kidnapped were often orphans, to lessen the likelihood they would be missed. That meant she could easily give Nova the identity of one of the women she kidnapped, and Nova would never have to worry that the woman would come after her.
When Elizabeth had first told her the story, Nova had been horrified and worried about working with a kidnapper. But apparently, Elizabeth had a plan to bring down the Mudden government. She didn’t share the details of that plan with Nova, she just said that the Mudden clan was going to kidnap women with or without her. By taking the job, she put herself in a good position to bring the people she needed to the planet to help with her plans. And Nova was one of those people.
“Others may also object to my position within the Mudden clan. Some rebels view this movement as an attack on the Mudden clan itself. Others, like me, want to change not just the people at the top but the way the entire system works. People are people. Changing the people is only a temporary solution. There is a larger issue here. The lack of women is at the root of the problem and corruption. Any change in government needs to resolve that issue first.”
Nova nodded, though she didn’t really care. She didn’t really see the point of helping a bunch of kidnappers. As far as she was concerned the whole planet could gosharditself.
“In the meantime,” Elizabeth continued, “you’ll be spending your days helping sick people.”
Nova made a face. She didn’t like sick people, or old people, or taking care of people. She lived for herself.
“Neither I nor Meghan have any experience with that.”
“Meghan takes care of sick animals, a lot of the skills are transferable. At least they are if I say they are, being the highest authority on the subject on the planet.”
“But I’m not Meghan!”
“You’ll have to pretend. I’ll start you off easy. For now, you’ll be delivering food and medication to people too sick to get it themselves.”
“I won’t have to cook for them, will I? Because what little I’ve seen of cooking, I don’t like!”
Elizabeth didn’t laugh but assured her she would be doing only deliveries. She spent the rest of the meeting explaining which houses to visit and what to bring to them.
In the evening, Nova knocked on the door of what looked to her to be a poor shack. She’d made several deliveries and the later it got in the day, the worse the houses looked. A couple times now, she’d had to let herself in, the occupants of the house too old or too injured to let her in.
The door opened to reveal a very healthy and handsome Mudden man in his fifties.
“I’m here to deliver food and medication,” she said suddenly unsure she had the right house.
“Come in,” he said, opening the door and stepping to the side to let her in.
She hesitated, not loving the idea of entering a stranger’s home, but this was her last delivery of the day, then she was free.
