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Blissful Ignorance

By Psion

An HSD Story

All Rights Reserved

On the Vector-inhabited worlds of Mars and Venus, as far as the frontier settlements on the moons of Jupiter, seven megacorporations rule the inhabited solar system. Outside of MarsCo, the manufacturing giant responsible for much of modern Vector society, none of the megacorporations was perhaps as well known as Progenitus.

Progenitus was a medical corporation, born of a Spyglass initiative to investigate rumors of corruption amongst their predecessor in the industry. Shocked to discover just how deep the duplicity went, that initial spy ring went public with their findings and in the outrage that followed, grew to become Progenitus after assimilating assets that weren't destroyed in the rioting and violence that followed. In the centuries that followed, the company grew to become the final word in healthcare, from cutting edge research to basic services. Their image was not without its flaws though, from the Vitae scandal with TTI that put the two corporations forever at odds to Progenitus's own growing reputation for being "moralistic nanny-state pricks." Regardless, the fact remained that wherever Vectors went, Progenitus was either there or not far behind them...

At first glance, Arcology #49 was typical of the self-contained megastructures dotting the terraformed Martian landscape. Built with an emphasis on increased agricultural techniques and technologies and almost entirely self-contained with its own residences, life support systems, and industries, the "49ers" that make up the arcology would have been fairly isolated except for that, in their infinite wisdom, MarsCo thought it would have been a really good idea to build a small city right on top of the largest convergence of Sub-Martian Tunnels on record. A byproduct from the terraforming processes that turned Mars into a green planet not unlike the long dead Mother Earth, the Sub-Martian Tunnels were home to all manner of mutant subterranean creatures, awe-inspiringly lethal hazards such as underground lakes of caustic chemicals, and a million and one places to hide if you were the kind of Vector that liked doing things you weren't supposed to. As a result, the lower levels the towering megastructure were a frequent stop for freelance bounty hunters and IRPF Rangers in pursuit of fugitives, field scientists representing every corporation in the Solar system, outlaws and members of the Cult of Bliss trying to stock up before disappearing into the tunnels, and no shortage of idiot "adventurers" thinking they could go down into the tunnels and bring back some sort of vaguely defined "treasure."

It was a place with an abundance of work for Progenitus staff yet a difficult market for them to maintain a serious presence in. As befitting the rough and tumble crowd that populated it, the lower levels were frequently populated by drug dens, brothels, strip clubs, and a handful of other specialty entertainments relatively unique to the arcology and with them came a population of Vectors that didn't like being told what to do. As a result, Progenitus's usual attitude of lecturing their patients on their life choices lead to employees being "encouraged" to transfer out of the 49er arcology. Those that managed to move through the population unhindered were often the black sheep of the company, skilled physicians and medical scientists that didn't fit in with the megacorp culture but were too useful to just dismiss out of hand....

"Did you go to the Cornucopia again Dr. Herqulean?" Doctor Alexandria Sheva asked as he stepped into the clinic, the question as much an accusation as it was a general query. Just one of the many reasons why Doctor Dite Herqulean couldn't wait for the damn vulpine bitch to get fed up with her current posting and transfer to somewhere else in the company, anywhere that was the Earth away from him was fine. Apparently someone up in management had gotten the bright idea to try and "show the 49ers what's right" again and sent a goodie-goodie company girl like Dr. Sheva to try and make it happen. Zealous to the point of being elitist, it was medtechs like the vixen that made Dite wonder if Progenitus was starting to lose sight of itself beneath an ego that was more swollen then his stomach after a night at Cornucopia...

Suppressing the urge to snarl, the tall brown bear smiled and brushed back his straight black hair as he looked down at the shorter vixen, yellow eyes glistening as he spoke. "Actually no, Sandra! was working a shift at Club Gaia last night so I went there. You really should see her sometime, she's been talking about meeting you and always puts on a great show."

The golden-furred vixen with short, spiky pink hair blinked at this. "Doctor, you have a stripper's work schedule memorized? And you aren't convincing her to try and make better life choices, ones that don't involve the risk of STDs?"

"Now why would she worry about that? We cured most of those back when we were still a Spyglass subsidiary, the rest were conquered before our hundred year anniversary." Dite replied automatically before promptly changing the subject. "Now if you're done preaching, I'd like to see if you made any last minute changes to today's schedule... again." The mountainous ursine doctor stated with no small amount of annoyance as he took his Toggle out of his pocket and attached it to a Smart Surface in the office the two of them shared. The glass-like substance began to project a variety of non-sensitive data concerning the day's agenda, a screen full of schedules and supply reports for the Progenitus office. "Hmmm, dermaplast sprays are running particularly low. Good thing we're getting another delivery of them tomorrow, might have to borrow some from the main hospital if we get hit particularly hard today." Herqulean mused as he read over the current catalog of the supply room's contents.

"These trauma cases keep taxing our supplies, are you sure it wouldn't be a better use of our time to try and persuade those treasure hunters to take up less dangerous hobbies?" Dite's coworker interjected academically. The round-bodied bear could tell she was trying to draw attention away from the changes they both know she made to the schedule.

"Sheva, if you wanted a posting where the worst you have to deal with is an overeating 49er with an upset stomach, you should have asked about the arcology hospital a hundred floors up. You can't cure stupid and if you could, the whole company would be out of a job. And I see you've asked to be put on clinic duty again while I handle any emergency calls that come up." Dite replied through gritted teeth.

"Well it's not like you couldn't use the exercise." The slender physician bristled in indignation. It was a flimsy excuse and they both knew it, emergency response duties were usually conducted from the back of a ground car. Alexandria was still trying to stick to the company line, operating from the clinic forced potential "converts" to have to engage her one at a time and at a pace she could control. Hard to be preachy when you had multiple casualties that all needed medical attention right damn now.

Dite could have argued but chose to let it go. Instead he went to get his gear together and prepare for a day spent operating out the back of a company ambulance. Let the company girl delude herself into thinking that the people of this arcology were willing to listen to Progenitus preach on about vaguely defined notions of "what's best." Two more months at the most and she'd be putting in for a transfer to a different branch of the company like all the others. Only those who were like Herqulean stayed for very long and the bear knew he was a black sheep as far as the corporation was concerned. At least he wasn't so estranged with them that they expected him to treat patients without the proper tools...

Unsurprisingly to anyone that met him, most of Dite's personal equipment was heavily customized; either because of his size compared to most Vectors or because a proper Progenitus field medic never settled for an off-the-shelf Progenitus Emergency Response Kit unless there was positively nothing else available. In addition to the Toggle, Toggle Case, and UI Lens monocle that were always in his pockets, the ursine Vector carried a heavily customized PERK that was immediately recognizable as something more heavy-duty then the usual medkits Progenitus sold. Where the average PERK was a small white and red parcel with the company Caduceus printed on the side, Dite's was a bulky container about the size of a 21stcentury briefcase and built from hardened polymers. Crammed into it were the same basic contents of the regular PERK plus double amounts of frequently used supplies and a few specialty gadgets he found particularly useful like portable sterilizing microwave field emitters, biopsy equipment, and detectors for pathogens and hazardous chemicals.

Once he finished checking his PERK to make sure everything was there, the stout bear put on his Rapid Response Harness over his pastel green coveralls. Custom tailored to stretch over his pronounced bear belly; the armored vest was otherwise surprisingly ordinary considering how much effort appeared to have gone into personalizing his doctor's bag. An armored vest with a suite of integrated support gadgets, Dite's RRH didn't come with anything that wasn't on the standard model: shoulder-mounted flashlight, rope, a Puff stim injector that went unused, backpack, and a handful of Toggle accessories of varying usefulness to him. There was a bit of redundancy between the armor and the contents of his pockets and medic bag but anyone who scoffed at redundancy clearly never had to worry about running out of bandages.

Last came Mr. Orderly, a shock stick given to him as a gift from an IRPF cop after a previous adventure lead to Dite saving the officer from bleeding out during a Bliss raid. While not really well trained in combat, the ursid medic did know how to hit things well enough to use Mr. Orderly without embarrassing himself and the gift did come in handy when he had to defend himself or, more frequently, his patients. Finished suiting up and with his request for a vehicle granted and recorded, Dite ambled out into the motor pool and started up the ground car.

Like their fellow emergency responders in the Inner Ring Police Force, Progenitus tried to issue vehicles that were relatively universal regardless of what environment employees found themselves working in. Given how Dite's rounds often took him past the IRPF checkpoint put up to try and keep the idiots out of the tunnels and the tunnel mutants out of the city, he appreciated the sleek white ambulance's ability to keep moving quickly even after he ran out of road.

No sooner had Dite turned on the ignition on his vehicle then the onboard computer came to life with an emergency message. An IRPF patrol had gone into the tunnels and was now putting out a call for medical assistance. With his clinic the closest to the tunnels and him on duty, the call had been deferred to him. Shaking his head, he pulled out of the motor pool and sped onto the roadway connecting the lowest levels of Arcology #49 together, siren blaring as he raced past BuySpots, food processing plants, and the adult entertainments of 49er's Cinnamon Park district. Foot traffic briefly looked up in his direction before continuing on its way, emergency vehicles were always going someplace in the lower levels....

Following the roadway down to the lowest level of the self-contained megastructure, the transition to Fort Floodlight was subtle at first but eventually the "wings and badge" symbol of the IRPF, to say nothing of the armories and crew-served weapon emplacements put up because there was no kill quite like overkill, was as obvious as a brown bear in a felid ballet. The second largest concentration of IRPF security forces in #49, the compound was erected to keep out mutants and serve as a launch point for research expeditions into the Martian underground. Unofficially, it had become known as Fort Doughboy for how a noteworthy percentage of local IRPF officers had gone native and picked up some of the #49ers' bad habits. Dite drove too quickly through Fort Floodlight to give anything then the road immediately in front of him more then a precursory glance, siren blaring and onboard computer broadcasting the IFF of an active duty emergency response vehicle responding to a distress call. Automated security checkpoints hesitated for only the microsecond needed to confirm his electronic credentials before opening the gates to let him pass. Behind him, an armed IRPF trooper on an off-road motorcycle pulled out to chase after him.

"Hey Snuggles, looks like I'm making sure you don't get lost today. Still trying to bang that stripper?" A familiar voice asked coyly over the car's communicator.

Dite smiled as his cheeks began to burn ever so slightly from embarrassment. "I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have watching my back Do'Co." He replied without answering her question, fighting to keep his thoughts on his driving. Now that he was out of the arcology he needed to pay attention to the breadcrumb navigation software giving directions on his Smart Glass windshield less he drove down the wrong tunnel and end up almost driving into an underground aquifer again.

"I'll take that as a yes then. But seriously Snuggles, what is your problem? You have no problem paying a girl for companionship but when one wants to give it to you for free you get the jitters." Trooper Laura "Do'Co" Connor continued on what Dite hoped to the Masters was a private channel. As one would expect from a branch of the IRPF somewhat given to machismo, the police dog was as direct with her own advances as she was with turning down unwanted ones from other parties. And upfront attitude aside, she was good at her job and knew well enough not to actively distract the bear while he performed his even if he did tend to enjoy watching her back...side as much as she professed to watching him. To say her gung ho attitude wasn't the only thing that wouldn't quit was an understatement. That Golden Labrador female loved her CarbBombs, one of the many Super Foods intended for biologically enhanced super athletes and abused by casual gluttons like the two of them. Maybe after Dite finished up here, the Progenitus medic would ask Do'Co out to dinner. Perhaps that would get her to stop talking about his social life.

The tunnel quickly grew darker except for the light of their headlights, the shadows of mutant pests barely visible before they disappeared into holes in the rock face. Dite ignored them even though his stomach briefly pined greedily. Roast rat-yenas with a side of MarsCo fries was probably the only thing of value those "treasure hunters" he was always forced to rescue ever brought up from the underground. Do'Co kept close to him as they quickly drove on, effortlessly matching his abrupt turns before the two finally arrived at the scene.

Coming to a quick stop and stepping out of his car with his doctor's bag already in hand, the stout bear took in the carnage with a quick, clinically detached look in his eyes as he approached the squad. Four Vector squad, unit patch on the left shoulder placed all of them as IRPF Rangers from the Mon Olympus region, and pursuing something extremely dangerous judging by what each of them carried. Fully automatic weapons, MC-801 active armor... and two wounded Rangers half-dressed and being watched by their compatriots despite all four of them wearing one of the sturdier suits of power armor MarsCo manufactured for combat operations. It was a good thing Dite's RRH was practically a billboard for Progenitus, dyed in company colors and bearing its logo on both shoulders, sneaking up on the two active sentries would have been a very bad idea.

"I'm Dr. Herqulean, I received your call." He greeted the lead Ranger, a male badger, standing watch, quickly shining his shoulder lamp on both of the wounded officers. Gunshot trauma on the left, some sort of serious chemical burn on the right, both looked like they could live but he would have to hurry to stabilize the gunshot victim as the bandage job applied to his lower chest was a hasty application at best. At least one of them would require an eventual transfer to the hospital on level one hundred but first things first...

The lead Ranger barely had time to open his mouth to reply before Dite was on his knees between the two wounded Vectors with his med-kit opened in front of them. A quick disinfectant treatment to both of them then focused his attention on the one currently losing blood. Removing the improvised bandage, Dite tightly applied a proper bandage from his bag to stem the bleeding; proper treatment would have to wait until the downed officer arrived at the hospital. Fortunately the Masters designed the Vectors to be tough as the bear was certain the wound would have otherwise killed the Canid in his care. The burn victim was an easier fix but more worrisome all the same, the MC-801 was a sealed suit rated for the vacuum of space. How did an acid weak enough to cause only minor chemical burns across this Ranger's chest manage to break through those seals? Regardless, that mystery would have to wait until later, a burn cream mixed with trace amounts of an alkaline base saw to the worst of his wounds.

"Alright, these two should be movable, would you like to accompany us back to the hospital?" He replied after doing what he could and closing up his bag.

The lead Ranger raised his visor and frowned in contemplation for a moment before shaking his head. "No, we've enough time as it is. We need to get moving."

"To do what if you don't mind me asking?" Dite asked causally as he retrieved two gurneys and with Do'Co's help, loaded both wounded rangers into the back of the ambulance and strapped them down for transport to the clinic where they would be quickly transferred to the main hospital via an express lift.

"Yes, yes I do." The badger answered curtly then disappeared into the inky underground darkness with his partner in tow...

Back in his apartment, the ursine doctor mulled over the day's events as he relaxed on a sturdy, long-suffering couch. The wounded IRPF officers had been received at the clinic and promptly transferred to the rapid transit elevator taking up to the main hospital. The chemical burn victim would be fine in the next few days but the Canid wolf with the gunshot wound would require an extended stay. The rest of the day passed without real incident, a few minor scrapes from a bar fight and a few factory workers showed up for an afternoon check-up. Now home, the portly brown bear relaxed on his sofa as the home as dinner cooked in an auto-cooker, a relatively normal meal for a change. The dormitory around him was normal for the smaller studio apartments of Arcology #49; small kitchen, combination living and bedroom, small bathroom, and a small container garden good for growing a handful of plants. #49's main industry was agriculture, half of the two-hundred-story building was devoted to a massive vertical farm and most of the living areas had space set aside for growing edible foliage. Small wonder the relatively isolated megastructure developed a culture obsessed with food, they produced everything from universal staples to the bulking agents used in the Super Foods that Pulse used to maintain the ridiculous caloric requirements of their over-augmented super-athletes.

Hearing a knock on the door, the tall mountain of a bear grumbled and rose to his feet. Lumbering towards the door, he realized he had forgotten all about inviting Do'Co over for dinner. And sure enough, there she was on the other side when he opened the doorway to his apartment. A Canid vector of domestic canine descent, the Golden Labrador was a large, pear-shaped female with bright cherry red hair worn in a short bob and dark blue eyes. Dressed in her custom-fitted light duty uniform; blue cargo pants, blue vest, white undershirt, and gray polymer boots, she looked like a typical if a bit overstuffed IRPF guard. A black elastic belt gently bit into her plush midsection as it held up her holstered sidearm.

"Hi Snuggles, can I come in?" She asked with a wink. Almost immediately Dite could tell something was wrong, Laura had an excellent poker face but the bear was too observant to not notice that her eyes had lost their usual mischievous glint. Something was bothering her, something she wanted to tell someone.

Stepping aside as best as he could, he let the other round-bodied Vector amble into his apartment and shut the door behind. Once no one else could see them, Do'Co let her poker face fall and became much more worried. Canine nose sniffed the air experimentally as a sheepish smile crossed her lips. "Did you look forward to having me over or was that all for yourself originally?" She asked with an uncomfortable smirk.

"Why don't you just start by telling me what's bothering you?" Dite replied astutely. While normally able to ferret out a surprising wealth of information with his powers of observation, the broad bottomed police dog wasn't making it particularly hard for him to see she was worried.

"Remember that Ranger that blew you off earlier today? Well, the section chief briefed the outpost today... have you heard of the Cult of Bliss?"

"Most wanted terrorist organization on Mars and Venus, who hasn't heard of them?" The Progenitus doctor replied then fell silently as he reflected on the implications of her question. "They've been spotted in the tunnels below Arcology #49 haven't they?" He asked.

"Yes." She replied, becoming even more visibly nervous. Dite couldn't blame her, the Cult of Bliss was a special kind of crazy, the kind that only a cult of sociopaths could be. There were only four threats Vectors could face that were more terrifying then Bliss; fortunately the cult was much more mortal.

"And the reason you are allowed to tell me this is why?"

"After our short briefing, I asked the section chief if we should notify Progenitus so you could get ready for the inevitable casualties if this doesn't turn out to be a false alarm. He thought it was a good idea, you should have something official in your work email already."

"And what do you want me to do right now?"

"Besides dinner Snuggles?" She laughed. "I don't know, maybe just hold me? Unless those Rangers turn up empty-handed, this is not going to be a good week for either of us."

Dite nodded and did his best to smile. As the auto-cooker finished dinner and set it to cool, the bear returned to the couch. Do'Co undid her belt and let her holster lay on a nearby end table as she curled up with him. Regardless of his conflicted feelings, he knew she was right. If Bliss really were here, it would be best to enjoy the relative peace while they could.