Duck’s head spun around trying to follow the red-suited bird, and eventually he gave up. “Will someone who speaks English please translate that?” he said to the others.
“You got shot,” Tech said. “Rev risked his life going back to pick you up off the rooftop where you fell, and we had to have Slam damage the airlock of the ship to get you back in, not to mention like Rev said, you threw eggs all over the ship.”
“And Tech saved your life,” Ace said.
Duck turned to look at the coyote. His breathing seemed to be returning to normal. “I think I would remember lobbing eggs all over the ship.”
“You were hit with a neural disruptor. It’s normal for your short-term memory to suffer minor damage when something like that hits, so I’m not surprised you don’t remember the eggs. We had to give you an adreno pill, which is why you feel so hyped up. The pill reverses the effects of the neural disruptor by balancing out the depression of the parasympathetic nervous system with a shock to the sympathetic nervous system.” Tech trailed off when he saw Duck’s beak hanging loosely open.
“I said, someone who speaks English,” he said.
“The guy shot you and you woulda died if Tech hadn’t gotten the neural thingy out an’ given you that pill,” Ace said.
“And I don’t remember it because…”
Ace turned to Tech. “Remember the part about getting it out soon enough to prevent brain damage? I don’t think it woiked.”
“Someone else explain it to him,” Tech said. “I need to get started on figuring out why this got through our uniforms’ force screens and preparing quicker countermeasures for the next time we run into this guy.”
“Next time? So you didn’t finish him off?” Duck stared at them.
“We were too concerned with getting you out of there safe,” Lexi said.
“Yes. Well.” Duck looked around, and finally dropped his head. “Thanks.”
“Yer welcome,” Ace said. “Let’s call Zodavia and report.”
“Can you do it without me?” Tech said. “I really want to get started on this.”
“Sure,” Ace said. “Go ahead.”
Tech walked down to his lab, but when he flopped down in his desk chair, he pulled out the sample tube and just stared at it. He could see reddish stains on it, and he thought about how much of that was his fault. Had he been worried about Rev enough that he’d pulled him out too soon, leaving Duck a sitting… well, duck? Had he acted in the best interests of the team? Had his relationship with Rev almost cost Duck his life? They joked about him, but Tech didn’t want to get anyone killed. They dispatched opponents with such ease sometimes that it was easy to forget the danger they all put themselves in every time, the need to work together as a team. He turned the sample tube over in his fingers and thought as the metal rattled against the plastic inside.
“Hey cutey how’s it goin’ down here we reported to Zodavia and we’ll probably have to go find this guy but for now he’s layin’ low so we got the rest of the day off and Duck’s in the infirmary getting checked out and Ace and Lexi went off to well you know so I just thought I’d come down here and see if there’s anything you need and to say that I thought you were pretty terrific today the way you saved Duck even if he doesn’t remember the rest of us sure will and we won’t hesitate to remind him believe you me so you think maybe he’ll leave us alone now?”
“Thanks,” Tech smiled. “I appreciate that. I don’t know about Duck. I mean, this is Duck we’re talking about. Who knows?” He didn’t mean it to come out quite as distant as it did, but the guilt was still weighing on him.
Rev cocked his head and walked around behind him, putting both hands on his shoulders and squeezing. “You okay there is there something wrong anything you wanna talk about?”
He considered it. The strong hands felt good on his tired shoulders, and he wanted to unburden himself further. But he’d only recently felt comfortable with Rev in this new dynamic, and the prospect of introducing guilt into the equation worried him. Would Rev suggest breaking everything off? Would he be upset that Tech was taking things so seriously? Would he say the coyote was worrying too much? Tech wanted to figure out how he felt before broaching the subject with Rev. “Nah,” he said. “I’m just trying to figure out this problem.”
“Probably best for you if I don’t stick around then and distract you huh I got plenty of other stuff I can be working on I guess like maybe going down to the danger room and running drills or playing that game you made me I’m stuck on this one level but I know I can beat it with a little more time and I’m just babbling on right now so I should get going sorry about that.” He gave Tech a quick affectionate peck on the top of the head and another squeeze on the shoulders.
“Actually,” Tech said, “if you wanted to keep rubbing for just a couple minutes.”
“Oh sure thing and I’ll shut up so you can concentrate just go ahead and let me know when you want me to stop.”
“Thanks.” Tech closed his eyes as Rev kneaded his shoulders. “That feels great.”
He only took advantage of the roadrunner’s generosity for ten minutes or so, because he couldn’t work his microscope while he was being massaged, and he needed to look more closely at the weapon. Rev waved cheerfully and then zipped off to the danger room, and Tech opened the sample tube, letting the problem at hand push aside the question of his own actions.
The needle was a fascinating puzzle in and of itself. The nano-circuitry was nothing special, of course, but it was
