Kitty Kelly, M.D.

In the dust‑choked precinct of Fractal, a fledgling mining settlement teetering on the brink of medical oblivion, superintendent Bob Lang convenes a council of weary townsfolk desperate for a cure. A missive dispatched to a prestigious university summons Kitty Kelly, a freshly minted doctor whose ambition eclipses the era’s gendered expectations. Upon her arrival, the townspeople—initially hostile to the notion of a woman wielding a scalpel—are swiftly disarmed by her striking beauty and professional poise, prompting a flood of patients afflicted by a series of inexplicable maladies that seem to plague the community. Kitty, whose attraction to Bob is tempered by his habitual drinking, confronts him with a stark ultimatum: a ninety‑day sobriety pact, sealed with a fierce promise. The fragile equilibrium shatters when Jerry Williams, a saloon proprietor entangled with Lola, a mixed‑heritage woman, lures Kitty to an isolated shack and perpetrates a violent assault. Lola’s confession to Bob triggers a rescue, culminating in Williams’s brutal death and Bob’s subsequent arrest. Undeterred, Kitty embarks on a dogged investigation, coaxing Lola into revealing the truth, thereby exonerating Bob. The narrative resolves with Kitty and Bob rekindling their romance, their bond now tempered by mutual respect and the promise of a healthier future for Fractal.