“A vacation is pretty wishful thinking.”
“Why not wish? What’s your wish for when all this is done?”
“I really don’t know. I’ll have to give it some thought.”
She hoped his wishes involved her. “I think Lim is going to be what we need to break everything wide open.”
“You’re convinced he’s for real?”
“Completely. His reactions and behavior remind me of myself after I lost my memory. It’s too familiar to be a fake. And his story adds up. That would mean he was experimented on six months before I came to Dragonfire.”
“Do you think Colb was planning that far ahead to try to implant you?”
She’d wondered the same thing. “I don’t know. I’m ready to find out though, and I think Lim is going to help us.”
“I hope so.”
A silence fell between them. Fallon stood. “I’ll get going. Ross will probably be back soon.”
“Okay.” He walked her to the exit. The doors swooshed open. “Good luck sorting out all the crap in your head.”
She had to smile at his cheerful tone. “Thanks. I guess I’ll need it. I’m really sorry about before. I never said I wasn’t broken.”
“Someday I’ll tell you about my background and we can compare brokenness.” He dropped a grandfatherly kiss on the top of her head. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
8
“I can’t say I’m excited about letting people poke around at my brain.” Lim fidgeted on the couch in the quarters he shared with Hawk.
Fallon sympathized with him. “Brak and Jerin poked around in my brain too. I ended up far better off for it. But they only want to get images and see what’s going on in there. That’s it. If it makes you feel better, I’ll stay with you during the procedure.”
“Yeah. That’d be good.” He smiled sheepishly. “I don’t trust strangers, so I’d feel better knowing you were looking out for me. I mean, I know we just met, but…”
“But at least I’m a familiar face.” She didn’t blame him for being nervous. Living in a galaxy of nothing but strangers could make a person paranoid. She knew that better than anyone.
“Okay. I don’t want to rush you, but the Onari is going to deploy tomorrow to deal with a plague on a mining planet. There’s no telling how long they’ll be gone. I’d like them to get a look at you before they go. Are you game?”
“Yeah. Sure.” He gave her a watery smile. “It’s just a look, right?”
“Yes. I promise. You’ll be awake the whole time, and they’ll tell you exactly what they’re doing. You’ll like them.”
“I hope so.”
“I have no doubts.” She waited for him to voice any concerns, but he didn’t. “I’ll be back in an hour, and I’ll walk you down to the infirmary.”
“My legs work fine. It’s my brain that’s taken a shore leave. I’ll meet you down there.”
She smiled. “Good. I’ll see you then.”
As she made her way to ops control to give the captain her morning report, she hoped an hour wasn’t long enough for him to think too much about it and spook himself. Sometimes a person’s worries could be his worst enemy.
Fallon realized she hadn’t told Lim that Brak was Briveen. He stared at her, his mouth open slightly. Words seemed to have escaped him. Jerin closed the door to the infirmary’s private room.
“This is my very good friend Brak. I trust her completely.” Fallon put a hand on his shoulder.
“Right. Of course. Pardon me.” He bowed clumsily, like someone new to the practice.
“I take it you haven’t met a Briveen before?” Brak’s amusement was clear to Fallon, though she doubted Lim would recognize it.
“Not that I recall. But I don’t recall much.”
Jerin chuckled. “I can assure you that I’ve never seen her eat a single human.”
Lim laughed. “Well, that’s good to know. Is that something Briveen are known for?”
“No,” Brak answered. “The doctor thinks she’s funny.”
“I’d have to agree with her,” Fallon said.
The humor loosened Lim up enough that he was able to lie back on the techbed and remain still.
“I know you won’t care for this,” Jerin said from the controls behind his head. “But I will need to apply restraints, to ensure that the images aren’t blurred. If at any time you want me to release them, just say so. Okay?”
“Sure.” His jaw had clenched, and he said the word through his teeth.
“We’ll get through this as quickly as we can,” Brak assured him. “It won’t take long to thoroughly map your brain.”
Fallon stood next to him and put her hand on his forearm. It felt odd for her to be in the role of support. It was not her usual gig.
Brak and Jerin worked through the imaging, talking as they went to reassure Lim. His muscles remained tense beneath Fallon’s hand, but he didn’t complain.
After a few more minutes, Jerin said, “There we go. We’re through.” A moment later she added, “You can sit up.”
Lim pulled himself up and looked toward Brak and Jerin. “What did you see in there?”
Fallon smelled ammonia, and knew it didn’t bode well.
Brak’s discomfort showed in her posture, too. Her back rounded and her shoulders pulled forward. “I’m sorry to say that your brain has experienced extensive damage. Your memory cortex has essentially been removed and replaced with an implant.”
“Removed? Does that mean I’ll never remember anything?”
“It’s encouraging that you seem to have no difficulties in creating new memories and being able to recall them. That must be a mechanism of the implant, but without further study we won’t be able to tell. You also have some basic skills. You can speak the PAC standard, for example.”
“I can do some pretty extreme math,” Lim offered.
“Really. Now that’s interesting.” Brak looked thoughtful.
“Does he have the same kind of implant I had?” Fallon asked.
“No. Very different. This is far less advanced. An early prototype.”
“So I was a test subject?” Lim’s fists curled in his lap.
“Possibly. Like I said, we’ll need to run a
