Continued from Part Seven

Jirel sat at the table in Dr. Boulet’s suite, while he waited for her to finish her examination of Snyder in the bedroom.

She came out, still in a strapless black evening gown, and sat with him. “You were right, he won’t talk to me. But I’m satisfied that he has been abused. I don’t know what we can do for him, particularly if Captain Greywolf is as dangerous as you say.”

“Well, isn’t there a shelter he could go to for a few days?”

“Not in Nevada.”

“But I’ve seen signs for domestic violence shelters.”

“They don’t take men. Usually, men are assumed to be at fault, and they often are. The academics will say differently, but in the field, you have to go with how the world actually is. The only saving grace for your young Private is his age and her rank. Otherwise, her actions would be in self-defense.”

“It’s self defense to hold someone down and strangle them?”

Boulet cleared her throat. “Sergeant, Truth is whatever the courts say it is. You may not like it, but this is the world we live in. I’ll be happy to give him a mental health leave for five days, but I have nowhere to send him.”

Truth spoke Creation into existence. He is not in the court’s jurisdiction.

Jirel bit his lip. He was not assigned to open the blind guide’s eyes. “So you’ll let him go for five days and hope wandering around or going to see his mother will help everything work out?”

“I’m doing what I can.” 

“Are you sure there’s nowhere you can send him?”

Boulet sighed. She picked up the HV remote and turned on a medical professional search engine. She pressed a few buttons. The window flashed, “No results.”

She mumbled. “Nada. Let me change the parameters.” She pressed a few buttons.

The screen flashed. “No results.”

She cursed. “One more time.”

The search screen flashed. “Three results found.”

“All right, looks like the closest shelter is in Houston.”

“Texas. there’s no shelter in between here and Houston?”

“The world we live in, not the one we want. Put Private Snyder on military flight X-24. He can fly with the infantrymen.”

Continued…Next Thursday

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