A/N: Follows the movie Outland.

Purgatory

"It's going to hit the fan around here and I want to watch it happen."

Prophetic words, thought Dr. Marian Lazarus while she sat in front of the computer terminal in her office. As the on-site doctor of the Conglomerates Amalgamated titanium mining facility on Jupiter's moon Io also known as Con-Am 27 for short, it was good to look forward to something for a change. It had been routine monotony for so long she didn't recognize the opportunity the appointment of William O'Neil as facility Marshall presented to shake things up. When he found evidence with her help of a trend of deaths due to a drug ring selling a synthetic stimulant, the resulting chaos cut off the drug supply and the distribution network in the facility.

While the population of over two thousand just stood by because it wasn't their fight, Marian had helped O'Neil dispatch the hitmen sent to the facility and watch his back while he proved himself and what he stood for.

What they stood for. She had surprised herself by helping; first it was scientific curiosity, then she got caught up in the fight for what was right. It wasn't interest in the man himself, because he had a wife and son to go back to on Earth after the drug ring was exposed. No, it was something more personal; she actually cared. He had called her a good friend, and said she did good.

She laughed at the thought.

You don't get sent here without a reason. You screwed up, you pissed off the wrong person, you made someone look bad or any number of things that called for a "reassignment" here in purgatory. She saw O'Neil's file and knew that he had the habit of speaking his mind no matter who the audience was or how much influence they had over his career. She spoke her mind too, but no one listened. No, her sin was different. Thoughts of a young boy dead on an operating table and a doctor crying beside him because there was nothing that could be done would stay with her the rest of her life. She was cleared of any medical malpractice, but if the memory wasn't bad enough certain influential people saw to it that she wouldn't have any chance of treating a senator's son again.

But that was old news, she told herself. On an isolated mining facility far from home, she isolated herself even further by keeping to herself whenever possible. There was safety in that.

But loneliness too. Thinking back, she had actually enjoyed the recent events even though she was scared witless at times while the hitmen were hunting O'Neil. Reserved and dedicated, he was still someone she could talk to and just be somebody again. She had told him "I'm not displaying character, just temporary insanity" when she offered to help, but maybe the insanity wasn't so temporary after all. Or maybe it wasn't insanity.

Maybe it was humanity.

Temporary humanity. She laughed again at the pun. No, it was there all the time; just numbed to the point that you didn't know it even existed at all. Like a foot falling asleep and then regaining circulation, the pins and needles of the events had brought her aware of its existence.

O'Neil had left, and the following week the shuttle returned with double the hitmen; the same indifference from the workers that Sheppard had counted on not to help O'Neil now worked against him as well. It turned into a cat-and-mouse game, with Sheppard eventually holed up in his office. When she examined the body later, one of his precious golf clubs was still wrapped tightly around his neck even though a gunshot was the actual cause of death. She didn't follow golf, but with the now-deceased manager's obsession for the game it could only have been a message. What was it Sheppard had said to his boss Bellows? "No one here will stick their neck out for anyone" he had assured him when planning the hit on O'Neil.

No matter, the station was back to normal. Without the synthetic amphetamine driving some of the workers the production dropped to levels from two years ago, with a corresponding drop in suicides from burnouts. She was back to the usual injuries for bar fights, pulled muscles from work, and the occasional bout of insomnia. She looked out the viewport at the vastness of Jupiter and how it almost gave you the sense of falling toward it. That could give anyone the willies if they weren't prepared for it.

In the meantime, her regular office hours were almost over. She could go back to her quarters, or get really drunk at the bar and then go back to her quarters. In other words, more normality.

No.

If she was going to hold on to this feeling of having done good, and almost being a person again, she had to do something different. Something…human. She made a call to Accounting Services.

"Accounting Services, Flo Spector speaking."

"Hi, Flo? This is Dr. Lazarus. I was wondering…is that invitation to dinner with your family still good?"

"If you want, although it's leftover night so there's no telling what combination you'll get. Then we sit around and play Parcheesi and complain about how horrible it tasted. It probably doesn't sound very exciting, I'm afraid. 1800 hours if you're still interested."

"It sounds wonderful, I'll be there."

The End

A/N: The movie, something of a science fiction version of High Noon, mostly deals with Marshall O'Neil and his fight with the bad guys. As a Sean Connery fan, that was fine and it was good to see him go home to Earth finally at the end but I think the doctor character that was his only help in the film needed a little expansion with backstory and what happened with her afterward. This points it in a good direction I think…

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