Challenge #02588-G031: Find-a-Family

He had stolen a lot of items before he was caught. He wasn't a pirate, he didn't go raiding ships, but they treated him nearly as badly as if he had been one. He would sneak aboard stations with lax standards, swipe small but expensive items from cargo holds that were in the process of loading, and escape. Problem is, all thieves get caught sooner or later. And a teenager like him, homeless and no longer caring, didn't normally have a future in this galaxy anyhow. At least that's how he viewed it.
He was young, not unintelligent, and he wasn't crazy, he'd just given up living any other way. He was a perfect candidate for their new trial prison. Bought into a building with no bars on the windows, no locked doors, he was stripped down, made to thoroughly wash, then dressed in what appeared to be very comfortable pajamas. He was laid in a pod bed with a hood of electronics that slipped over his head covering his eyes and ears. He felt the slight sting of a shot in his arm and then.. when his eyes opened again, he realized he was a small child again, but in a home. A home that loved him, something he'd never experienced before. This was the experimental Virtual Prison. While the prisoners slept, the special pod keeping their bodies healthy and clean, the virtual helmet with its careful programming, gave the prisoners at rehabilitating into a new life. This was a new, humane, place with no violence, no cruelty, and the condensed virtual program meant the prison terms, which often in normal prisons could last decades, needn't last more than a single year. -- Anon Guest

He was thirteen, borderline starving, and unhealthy for certain. Filthy, wearing clothing that fit only on a technicality. Rags protected his feet from anything too sharp or too cold, though a solid layer of horn-hard epidermis grown in defense of the world helped with that. His eyes darted back and forth as he tested the chains and their hold on him. The cold metal desk he was chained to was bolted to the floor, and so was the slotted chair he crouched in. Anyone looking at him could see that he was a lost cause.

The Human who entered was clothed in Public Services grey, striped with Security Purple and had highlights of Maintenance Orange. Their identity patch had the Multilingual White boundary. This, the child could read. The letters on it meant nothing to him, they were just... shapes. This, to the boy, meant A Person Who Must Be Avoided. A Hazard. He flinched and failed to escape. The chains held him fast.

"You speaking GalSimple?" cooed the Hazard. They had a small object in one hand. Round, golden brown, and smelling fresher than anything he'd grubbed out of a refuse receptacle. He watched in terror as the Hazard carefully placed it on the table within his easy reach. "You having name?" The Hazard retreated, putting their hands up and away from their body. "Is good. Is food. Is good food. Nom nom?"

The chains jingled as he snatched it up and darted back again. Warm. He couldn't remember the last time food had been warm when it wasn't also crawling with stinky larvae. It tasted so good. "Trap?" he said. "Catch? You owning? Is last meal, yesno?"

"No last meal being," assured the Hazard. He didn't believe them. Hazards always lied. He had had so many narrow escapes from the Hazards. "Self naming Ari. You name being?"

Those who are about to die... He had nothing to lose, anyway. He crammed his mouth with the offering so they couldn't take it away. He shrugged. He hadn't needed a name before.

"No person calling you?" Somehow, the Hazard had another one. "This being name dumpling. Small good food, yes?"

He waited until the Hazard backed off again before snatching it up. Cramming it into his mouth as he had with the previous one. "No calling. No naming. Self being am."

"You liking name Am?" Another dumpling.

The dance continued for five such. He had no opinions about 'Am' as a name. It didn't matter. On the sixth interchange, the item offered was a drink pouch with the image of flowing water and a single mint leaf floating within. He snatched it up and popped open the straw hatch, gulping it down. This was the nutritious one, the better one, according to other grubby wanderers. He had to wonder what these people meant to do with him. "What costing?"

"No costing," insisted the Hazard. "All deserving food, drink, shelter. You deserving help. Us giving help."

"Costing," he insisted. "All costing. Always costing."

"You being criminal. Us having criminal actions us taking."

He relaxed a little. "Long walking outside short airlock, yesno?"

"No," insisted the Hazard. "Us having better ways."

There was processing, of course there was processing. He was made to be clean and scanned and tested. He had his old clothing taken away and replaced with warm, comfortable, clean clothing that fit. Then he was ushered into a soft, clean room in colours that spoke of calm and furnishings that spoke of warmth. There was an educational touchscreen on the wall with a digital avatar that helped him with basic things, like ordering his food, and choosing a preferred drink.

The AI called him Am, just like the Hazard had, and he actually got to relax there.

The next morning, he woke up in someone's arms. He wasn't thirteen any more. He was much, much smaller. The person who held him looked like the AI from the screens, but... that was a dream.

"Good morning, Am, sweetie." Warm lips kissed his brow. He was still in the warm, comfortable clothes, but they were smaller too. Him-sized. "Are you ready for a fun day?"

Confusion. "Who're you? Where's th' room?" It was weird hearing his own voice. He sounded like a baby.

"You're in foster care, sweetheart. I know it's confusing, but all you have to do for now is remember than you are wanted and you are loved. Most call me Mama. You can if you like. My name is Nai, and until you find a new home, you are my darling little boy."

There were other kids at the table. He was the youngest, but the older ones were gentle with him. Some were older behind their eyes than they appeared to be. It was their calm, coolness about the situation that helped him relax. Mama Nai had time for all of them and it seemed, sometimes, that there was more than one of her anywhere. She was never far whenever she was needed. She could be playing on the floor with him or teaching one of the other kids how to read. All the while helping some of the others cook dinner.

It was... It was like a dream. It made sense, but only because his mind was too occupied to ask questions. The food was always great, and the people around him were kind, and he learned...

...how to be a child, how to accept love, how to deal with feelings in a healthy way, how to trust...

There were more children, younger than him, and some of the ones older than him went away to new homes, but it was never completely sad, and Am learned...

...how to say 'goodbye', how to welcome, how to accept trust, how to hold trust in turn, how to laugh with people...

There was a seemingly endless summer, but there was also winter, and pets, and parties and social activities and music and sing-alongs and Am learned...

...how to give and receive comfort, how to support someone, how to be supported, how to joke, how to take a joke, how to make friends...

He had nightmares about being older and living through horrible conditions, and the terror of being caught, but Mama was always there, even if the cast of siblings might change in his time. Am learned...

...there was always someone to rely on, how to ask for help, how to give help, how to know he needed help, how to make it on his own because he knew someone would be there if he needed them...

Then came his last day. Mama Nai had found a forever home with him. The whole foster home had a Farewell Party and he bade his foster-sibs farewell as so many others had bade him farewell. He was thirteen, and well-fed, and cared for, and he knew how to trust...

Am woke up in a hospital bed. His body was transformed during the dream of another life. It matched the version of him that had just left the foster system. Healthy. Fit. Well-fed.

"Welcome back to reality," said the image of Mama Nai on the screen. He could now read the words alongside her face. Nurturing Artificial Intelligence. "Your new parents will be ready to meet you, soon. You will need a minimum of two days' therapy to be certain that the virtuality interface hasn't had any concerning side-effects and you will be free to go forward in your new life. You can ask me anything you like, Am. All you have to do for now is let the Mediks check you over."

It wasn't nearly as frightening as it had been when he went in. But then, he was incapable of trust, back then. "How long was I in the foster system?" he said. GalStand. Not GalSimple, and definitely not the scrabble he had spoken... how long ago?

"Your body has been sleeping through your mental rehabilitation for three months. In that time, Medik staff have been making certain your body has had proper nutrition, exercise, and taken care of all other functions. You were dreaming the foster system thanks to a subconsciously augmented virtuality program designed to nurture your mental care. You will be able to remember your two lives with clarity very soon."

Am could feel it coming back. Life as a wild creature, unloved and unloving. Thinking the entire universe was out to get him. Not even caring if he had a name... it seemed more like a nightmare than the dream life with Mama Nai and the other--

Wait. "The other kids. Were they real?"

"As real as you are, Am," said Mama Nai. "We have found that rehabilitation is much easier when it is accomplished in staggered groups. Some are approaching full rehabilitation in a few days. You might even see some people you knew from the foster system during your final checks."

"And the parents? They're real, too?"

"Yes," said Mama Nai. "They'll be coming to visit in just a few minutes."

She told the truth. Mama Nai never ever lied. There they came, as Am remembered from the visits. Though this time they were wearing the same weird pyjamas Am was. And they were in the company of... part of him remembered her as the Hazard, but her name was Counsellor Ren. The difference was jarring. The old part, the nightmare part of his memories felt a spike of fear at her appearance. The new part, the dream, quelled it and knew that Counsellor Ren had his best interests at heart.

"There's our baby boy," cooed his new Mama. Mama Klyz.

"Hello," whispered Rennie Laan. "Nice to see you in the flesh, as it were. Are we cleared to hug?"

Am opened his arms and welcomed them in. Another success for Purgatory Station's Youth Rehabilitation Programme.

[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Colecanstock]

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