I’d been alone a lot, both growing up and since I’d left home—and I figured that wasn’t going to change in my future, so I might as well enjoy the illusion while it lasted. If he could see that thought in the implant, Doc didn’t comment, just guided me to the infirmary and settled me into the scanner.
“We might as well check all of you out while you are here,” he said, and then pointed at my new hand. “That is going to have to come off.”
I felt my gut twist, but nodded.
“Go for it, Doc. Just make sure it’s not going to explode first, okay?”
I’d meant it as a joke, but the Doc didn’t take it that way.
“Stay there,” he said, and moved over to a cabinet not far from where I lay. “Tens.”
I wondered why he wanted Tens, but the answer was obvious when Tens replied. Someone was getting very good at riding unseen in my implant. I added it to the list of things I needed to fix, but paid attention to what Tens was saying.
“Hand’s clear, Doc. Fortunately Corovan can’t match our girl in evil, twisted and fucking subtle.”
Subtle? Well, that was new. I’d thought I was about as subtle as a brick in the face.
“You’re that, too,” Tens told me, and Doc nodded, “but you can be sneaky when you need to be.”
I figured I hadn’t been sneaky enough if he was still reading what I was thinking as it crossed my mind.
“Yeah, well I’ll stop doing that when Mack says we can trust you not use that sneaky nature of yours to sneak your way off the ship, and get yourself killed.”
I gave a heartfelt sigh at that, because the way I was feeling now, that might as well be never. Until I had a choice as to whether to go or stay, I was always going to be leaving—and Odyssey could jam any future job offers up its ass. Way they used coercion, the sooner I was free of them the better.
Doc patted me on the shoulder.
“They’re not all bad, girl. You’ve just seen them in more of a pinch than most. Normally they don’t push a person so hard. It’s why they still have Delight.”
And before I could respond to that, he added, “Now, lie still, and let the machine do its work.”
He tapped on the panel at the side of the machine, and I realized he’d been working on my hand while I’d been distracted. He set it carefully to one side of the scanner.
“You’ll get it back as soon as this is done,” he said, “unless you want to go into a tank and grow a new one.”
“Do we have time?” I asked, and Doc smiled.
“No, but it’s one hell of a way to keep you out of trouble.”
“Thanks, Doc. Talk to me about it later, okay?”
I watched as the smile faded from his face.
“Will do, Cutter. I’ll even see if there’s a way to avoid it being added to your bill.”
“How about it being the employer’s responsibility to repair the damage caused when the mission goes south because they’ve fucked up the intel?”
I thought I saw his eyebrows hit his hairline in shock, but the scanner was sliding down across me, and it blocked him too quickly from sight for me to be sure. I lay there and let my mind drift as lights of varying shades and intensities played over me. I even remembered to close my eyes, and wished Doc had remembered to give me the usual eye protection before hitting the switch.
Still, it didn’t matter. I watched the play of light and shade across the inside of my eyelids, and slowly relaxed. For the first time in weeks, I felt safe. I wondered what Mack would say to that.
“I’d say it was about fucking time.”
I startled, opening my eyes, but was fortunate enough that the light was back to normal, and the scanner was sliding away from me. The feeling of security didn’t quite fade, but I sat up as soon as I could, reaching over with my good hand to grip my wrist just above where it ended. I watched Mack follow the movement, and saw the twist to his lips.
“That’s my fault,” he said. “We’ll fix it as soon as we hit a quiet patch.”
I gave him my most skeptical look.
“We have quiet patches?”
“You know we do,” he said, and I remembered the quiet patch that had led to me getting picked up by Odyssey.
“And that’s not going to happen, again,” he said, and I couldn’t be sure if he meant me leaving the ship, Odyssey getting its hands on me, or what.
I chose not to pursue it, but sat quietly, while Doc refitted the hand. I hadn’t realized I was staring at Mack, until he waved a hand in front of my face.
“Credit for your thoughts?”
I shook my head. My mind had been a complete blank for once. Instead of giving Mack an answer, I turned to Doc.
“What’s your verdict, Doc?”
He met my gaze, and then stepped back.
“You’re in better condition than you have any right to be,” he said, and then fixed Mack with a hard stare, “but the implant needs another fortnight to be sure the connections have formed properly.”
“She slugged me in front of the crew,” Mack said, but Tens intervened.
“No, she didn’t, boss. I got them out of there, before she let fly.”
“You were there.”
“Yeah, but I don’t count.”
Mack was silent long enough that I realized that Tens had a point. I wondered what the difference was between him and the rest of the crew, but Doc was quick to fill the gap.
“So, no mat time required,” he said, and turned to me, “which makes you more fortunate than you deserve, given just how good a hit that was.”
The look on my face must have said it all because he went
