A Human and a Havenworlder are both trapped in a cargo bay of a medical transport ship. The Human is in a support frame due to an illness that had created serious malformations in the spine before they were rescued as one of the last few survivors from a failed Deregger colony. The door is forced open by the pirates and the only one to save them is a Havenworlder with a scalpel. The Human reassures the Havenworlder, "you're not as weak as you think you are." -- Lessons
Scoliosis, rickets, and some weird mutated virus combined to give Human Rav what they referred to as "rubber spine". Which was not great for anything other than lying very carefully down. The rest of what passed for society on Greater Deregulation Lower Northeast did the rest of the damage.
The Alliance had rescued Rav just before the entire planet died. What happened after the rescue had always amazed them. Free medical care with full informed consent. Prior to that, Rav's medical care consisted of being an "experimental animal" in the Deregger labs.
Just when they thought their life was getting back on track, the pirates attacked. They had been walking for the first time in decades. Admittedly, this was with the help of a supporting frame and a medical exoskeleton, but it was walking all the same. Rav didn't even care that they were being lapped by someone's toddler.
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