Venturing Through the Cracks

Posted on Sun 19th Jan, 2020 @ 3:26am by Elizabeth Anderson M.D.

1,650 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Brown Sector, Deck 2245
Timeline: MD -3

Continued from here.

Anticipate charity by preventing poverty. --Maimonides

"How often do you plan to go down there?" Corin Durant asked Elizabeth Anderson as the two of them rode the tram down toward Brown Sector, contenting himself with a useful question instead of with the question he wanted to ask her

"A couple of times a week," she answered, staring out the window. Occasionally, a view into one of the decks flashed by, but mostly it was dark. She turned to him and asked, "Do you think that's too much? Too little? I know there are a lot of problems. What I don't know is whether people will come to me, even though I'm not Starfleet. I'm also not a refugee. Not yet, anyway."

"No, a couple of times a week seems more than reasonable to me," Corin said. "After all, you're doing this pro bono. The rest of the week, you have to make sure that your rent remains paid, and your lights stay on. I suspect you already calculated to the minute how much time you could afford to give to Brown Sector's residents. These same people could get free counseling services from Starfleet and choose not to. Starfleet has already budgeted funds to pay for Brown Sector counseling; your funds are coming solely out of your own pocket. Graves and his staff are perfectly decent people, if the Brown Sector folks would just give them the chance. So no, I don't think you need to give them any more time than you're planning to give them."

Corin glanced at her. "You might think I'm being too harsh, and maybe I am. I know there's bad blood, at least from their point of view, between them and Starfleet. I can understand how their trust withered away, and I know it takes time to rebuild trust. I don't know; I guess I'd want to look at all my options instead of completely rejecting one option and looking narrow-eyed at the other."

Elizabeth nodded, "You would, but that's because you are a rational human being, and you've learned to deal with what you've suffered. I don't know it for a fact, yet, but I believe many of these people don't understand the options they have. It's like something I read from a history of Earth - the United States?" she glanced at him, to be sure he knew where she meant. His nod assured her that he did.

"There was a period of time in the 20th century, maybe even the 21st, possibly going backward farther. The records aren't that clear after 400 years. But anyway, the point is," the counselor continued, "there were a lot of people living in poverty in a world of plenty. Oh, the government offered funds and food, but they built a culture that didn't know how to help itself. Because it didn't know what the options were. When you are trained in one line of thought, you don't know there is another. A few will be ... resourceful, I guess would be the right word. They'll explore, figure out there is another way to do things. Most will simply accept what they're given.

"You didn't. You found a way out, but how many people on your planet have done that? And that's right now, in the 24th century. I figured out another way, but look at all the information I have, almost literally at my fingertips. I think at least some of these people aren't aware there are other kinds of lives being lived above them. Maybe they are unhappy, maybe resentful, maybe distrustful, but they also aren't aware of options. I'm hoping I can help them become aware. Because really," Anderson glanced out at the dark tunnel again, "resentment and distrust aren't going to get anyone very far."

"My way out happened only because of pure luck and my willingness--or maybe desperation--to risk everything. If the pure luck hadn't happened, I'd still be living where I was born," Corin said. "You're right, though. As long as they can't see past their noses, their noses are all those people will ever see. So I hope you'll be able to help them. There's a whole starbase, a whole galaxy for these people to explore, if they want to. There's no sense in them keeping to two decks of a starbase as big as this."

"No sense at all," Anderson replied, as the Tram began to slow. She stood up, and looked down at him for a moment. "There's an old Earth saying, but you might not ever have heard it - we make our own luck." She smiled at him and held out a hand to pull him up. "Let's go make some luck for someone else."

"It's familiar," Corin said with a nod. "We phrase it, 'If you want to catch rats, set out bait.'"

As they stepped out, Elizabeth turned to the right, to follow the way she'd taken to the turbolifts before. "Did I tell you that I'd actually found an office space down here?"

"No, you didn't. Will you be able to afford it for long?" Corin asked.

She shrugged. "I think so. I'm actually doing pretty well as a civilian counselor, and credits stretch pretty far down here where there aren't many to be had. I actually feel bad about paying so little, but it is a small space - sort of a front office area/waiting room, and then a small consulting room. I'll show you, if you like. I chose it because it's close to a small garden someone planted, and there's a fountain of sorts there. I hope to find the person who made it and thank them, maybe offer a plant or two, if they seem amenable to that."

They arrived as the turbolift down opened its doors. Waiting as passengers exited, they stepped on with a few others and headed further down, to deck 2445. Everyone on the 'lift was silent, and Elizabeth made sure she was breathing. When she was deep in thought, her subroutine sometimes stopped, and this was not a place and time she wanted that to happen.

It was odd how silent everyone on the turbolift was, Corin thought. He surreptitiously studied the handful of other passengers out of the corners of his eyes. Most seemed like custodial staff, who Corin suspected lived on 109's lower decks, if not the specific deck he and Elizabeth were headed to. One wore the uniform of Operations staff, which made him wonder if that guy was the reason for everyone's silence. He shifted his own posture into more of a slouch and exited the 'lift with Elizabeth when it stopped at deck 2445.

"Where to, now?" he asked.

She nodded to the right, and said, "Over near the market place. Or that's what I call it. They are regular shops, so it's more like a souk, I think. It's how I envision the word 'souk' when I run across it, anyway. The people here don't look like Arabs, but ... there's something about the way they live that reminds me of the ancient middle east on Earth." She glanced at Corin as they walked toward the area where her office was located. His brow was furrowed ... thought or confusion?

"Of course, I'm only going by pictures that are stored in the database, so I could be completely off the mark," she shrugged, "but it's what I think of when I see it. You tell me what it reminds you of when you see it. You have more real experience than I do." They walked along silently for a block or so, taking in the environment, the people. There weren't crowds of people along the streets ... and no vehicles, not even bicycles. "I wonder if it's always so quiet."

"I haven't been down to this deck often, and never in this direction, but yeah, it's like a library," Corin said in a low murmur. "It's a weird mixture of peaceful and nerve-wracking. I'm not used to it being this quiet in public. In a place like this, I'm used to voices echoing off the tunnel walls. Quiet in public, where I come from, usually means you're hiding from danger and don't want to draw attention to yourself. I'm not sure what it means here; these people aren't as militarized as mine, and they don't face the kind of dangers that mine do."

"I guess we'll find out, given time," Anderson said. "I hope they aren't feeling that much danger." They turned a corner, and the counselor pointed to a building across the way, not quite on a side street, but a little cul-de-sac with a large tree and a dry fountain at one end. "That's where I've rented. I don't have access yet. These buildings all use keys - somewhat antiquated, but maybe in a place like this, it feels safer than tech you don't trust."

"Keys?" Corin shook his head. "Why would anywhere on a starbase use keys? Ah, well, whatever works for them. Maybe they wanted the old-timey market feel, like the River Village has."

Corin walked over to the fountain and studied it. After a moment he took out a penlight from his pocket and peered up one of the spouts. "I'd love to try fixing this, or have someone at the shop do it. I considered fountains a wasteful extravagance when I first came to Earth, but this station has enough water supply to support it. No reason not to get it working again."

Elizabeth looked down the street to their right, where shop doors were open under a covered walkway. "That's the market. Do you want to check it out?"

"Sure," Corin said with a nod. "Let's see what they sell down here."

 

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