Challenge #03614-I326: Soup and Nonsense

"¡Por favor, no me toques, tengo miedo!"
La persona recién liberada miró alrededor de la estación desconocida con dolor, terror y necesitaba ayuda con urgencia. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Translated to English by DuckDuckGo-
"Please don't touch me, I'm afraid!"
The newly released person looked around the unknown station in pain, terror, and needed help urgently.]

Strangers. Strangers everywhere. It had been a long trip in the cold with poor oxygen and worse food. The Culpeo running the ship had charged too much for a journey that was frought with too many perils. Then they had simply opened the doors and told everyone still alive to run and never look back.

The corpses would be discharged in a Sargasso System somewhere. No memorials, no markers, no documents. Just one more frozen body amidst the rest of the starfaring flotsam. Circling around an inconsequential star.

Karo had run until they nearly collapsed. The air was cleaner, but the environment wasn't much warmer. And there were no other bodies - alive or dead - to huddle against for warmth. They remembered walking, sort of stumbling vaguely forwards, looking for somewhere warm. And then waking up with exactly what they wished for.

There was a pale grey bed they were resting on. A pale grey bowl full of steaming brownish... something, rested on a small table seemingly designed to never tip over. There was a spoon, a napkin, an empty glass, and a container of water so clear that it was almost invisible.

This was the most comfortable they had been in their memory.

Karo gulped down the brown stuff, which was sort of tasteless in the way that bland food always was. They weren't in a position to complain. The water was oddly tasteless, too. Not the water of the Culpeo ship that smelled of urine and everyone's stale breath. Somehow sweet without actually being sweet.

Karo drank most of it before noticing the watcher.

The stranger was sitting down. Wearing a uniform of black and red that spoke of neat tailoring and a certain amount of harmless allure. They were pleasantly patient and evidently comfortable where they were.

Karo thought of the glass in their hand, and how quickly they could smash it and weaponise the fragments. Not against the stranger, but against themself. "Do not send me back. I would rather die first."

"We would rather you didn't die," said the stranger. "Please don't try to harm yourself? You've already been through enough."

That gave Karo pause. They had believed the entire universe was just like home, only marginally improved in certain areas. This was the first time they had heard someone being concerned for them, rather than the things around them.

They blurted, "What's the catch?" out of pure habit.

"You have responsibilities as well as rights," said the stranger. "I am Counselor Dirk. As your news media may say, I am one of them theys." This seemed to amuse them. "I will answer any question you may have during this part of your integration process. My ultimate goal is to see you into a life of your ideal comfort, in such a way that you no longer need my guidance."

"How much will this cost?"

"From what I understand, your escape cost you everyone and everything you have. Except for your life. That, in our opinion, is too much to ask of you."

It didn't make sense. None of it made sense. Karo found the furthest corner from this person and huddled into it. "Someone has to be paying for this. Who's in charge?"

"To answer that question, I must begin by explaining the Cogniscent Rights Committee..."

[Image by Antony Trivet on Unsplash]

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