I looked at Rusty, err, "Krista", when she came in and made her surprising and slightly disjointed speech. A mixture of circumstances and unit gossip helped me understand some of what she was talking about, and I explained to Marta and Chester what had been going on. They were surprised to hear that someone could be kept virtually a slave like that, and could be physically abused by a doctor.

"Like, I thought that was illegal or something," Chester responded. "Most Docs seem kinda nice. When I dumped my bike a couple years back, the sawbones did a good job with the cuts and broke leg." Marta nodded in agreement; she was a person of few words.

"That doctor has no business treating people," I answered. "He hits people all the time; I used to make a practice of hitting him to make up for it, but never could get any decent revenge."

I walked towards Rusty. "You were a victim of his hits for sure; I can see that fresh bruise. How bad did he hurt you otherwise? Has he been hitting you a long time?"