“See you on the other side,” Fallon said before the stuff took effect.
“Count on it,” Brak answered.
Confusion swirled through Fallon. Lights and sound were a jumble. She opened her eyes, unsure where she was. She saw a Briveen face above her, watching. Just behind her, Jerin stood, looking unusually concerned. But she’d looked that way before the surgery too, and Fallon decided not to take it as a bad sign.
“How do you feel?” Brak asked.
“Groggy, but it’s fading.” Fallon struggled to pull herself together. “How did it go?”
“As planned. All that remains is to rest until you’re fully alert and give the router a try.”
“So soon?” Fallon had thought they’d need to wait for her to heal, or something.
“Yup.”
“In that case, bring me some coffee,” Fallon joked.
“No stimulants. Give the sedative some time to leave your system.” Jerin’s voice was gentle but stern.
“Sure. I’ll hang out. Catch up on some deep thinking.” Fallon stared up at the ceiling tiles and remembered counting and mentally measuring them before and after her previous surgeries. She seemed to be developing quite a history of having her brain operated on.
Fallon had no way to measure time, but after a while Brak asked, “How do you feel now?”
“Fine. Clearer.”
“Good. Wren and Raptor are outside.”
“What?” Fallon bolted upright.
“Just kidding. But you seem alert to me.”
“Dirty trick.” Fallon had to smile. It had been a good dirty trick. “So what do I do now?”
“You should be able to intentionally access the router and send a message. The message will automatically be encrypted and encapsulated. Once it goes out, all you can do is wait for a response on that same network.”
What did she want to say? Well, not much. If someone had commandeered Krazinski’s side of the gateway, she didn’t want to be throwing information at them.
Head to the ground, she thought. The chief is online.
She scrunched her forehead. How did she send the message? “How does a person initialize a neural implant?”
“Electrical impulses go across the fibers and activate the implant. It shouldn’t take any more effort than thinking.”
“I don’t feel like anything’s happening.” Fallon hadn’t expected to be unable to access the thing once it was installed.
“I can see activity in that part of your brain, and everything looks like it should. I have no way of knowing what you might be thinking or sending.”
“Right. That’s the whole point of a private network.” Fallon dangled her feet over the side of the techbed. “Am I allowed to stand?”
Jerin moved to offer her a hand. “Sure. Take it easy though. Standard advice—no blows to the head, no extreme exertion, tell me if you have nausea, vertigo, headaches, and all that. You’ll probably be unusually tired, but back to yourself in a day or so.”
“Yeah.” Fallon got to her feet and tested her balance. “My brain’s been sliced and diced a time or two before. This is getting to be a habit.”
“Not something to brag about.” Jerin did not seem amused.
“Probably not. But I seem fine. I guess I’ll go about my day as usual. Unless the mother planet beams a transmission from the supreme commander into my brain.”
Amusement and concern were an odd mix to smell from Brak, but Fallon took it as a good sign.
Aloud, Brak said, “Sounds like you watched old-fashioned space vids when you were growing up. I didn’t see any until I was in university and a classmate had a party with a space-vid theme.”
“They’re good fun. Who doesn’t enjoy a cheesy holo-vid now and then?”
Brak turned off the techbed, returning it to power-saving readiness. She gave Fallon a warning look. “I’ll say it again: Take it easy. Call me if you notice anything unusual, even if it seems like nothing. When will you tell everyone about this?”
“I think I’ll wait until I have proof that the network implant works. I just have to figure out how to make that happen.”
“Good luck with that,” Jerin said drily.
“I’ll do it. I have to.”
“I meant with telling your team what you’ve done. But yes, good luck with the other thing too.”
Since Fallon wasn’t eager to spend an extended amount of time with the people she was hiding something from, she finally got around to doing something she’d put off for too long.
“What can I do for you, Chief? I was just closing up.” Cabot indicated the door of his shop, then bowed. “But of course I’m happy to reopen if there’s something you need.”
“Actually, it’s something I want to do for you. I’d like to take you to dinner.”
His blink of surprise made her smile. “I’d be delighted. And since the shop is closed for the evening, I’m available whenever you like.”
“How about now?”
“Perfect.” He gave her a wink. “Where were you thinking we’d go?”
“Wherever you like.”
“How about the Tea Leaf? I’ve had a craving for nut milk tea all afternoon.”
“Zerellian, or Bennite?” she asked.
“Zerellian. The Bennite is good too, but tends to put me to sleep.”
“The Tea Leaf it is.”
“You know,” he said as they walked along, “if you were Rescan, you’d offer me your wrist.”
“Offer it for what?”
Cabot chuckled. “Like this.” He held his arm, palm up, in front of him. “I’d rest my palm on your wrist, and this would indicate that you are giving me the honor of acting as my host.”
“Interesting. I’ve never heard of that.”
“Oh, no one cares about Rescan traditions. Not even Rescans.”
“It’s come to my attention recently that I haven’t done enough to experience other people’s ways of living. So here.” She lifted her arm as he’d demonstrated, offering him her wrist.
A slow smile spread across his face. “Chief, you continue to surprise me.”
He rested his hand lightly on her wrist, and they proceeded that way. Fallon had to admit, it made her feel more stately. She wasn’t sure that would help her in life, but at least she was keeping an open mind.
Day shift had only just
