“I didn’t want to keep it from you, but he said he had to be the one to tell you.”
The sneaky fucking bastard. We don’t agree on much, but one of the things Dominik and I had negotiated was that we wouldn’t bring new partners around Vee until it was a serious relationship. Our boy is tough, but he loves with all his heart, and it would be unfair to have a revolving door of semi-strangers in his life. Something red hot slithers through my veins. And we’re back to: I will fuckingkillhim.
Thankfully,Khrysinterrupts before I can say anything more. “A discussion for later, maybe,” she says. “You keep wincing, and I want to check you out immediately to make sure there’s no internal bleeding.”
Frustrated and tight-lipped, I tilt my head towards the bench in the corner. Vee goes easily, sinking into his game quickly but anxiously, his foot tapping the deck jerkily.
“Take this off,” Khrys says, tapping the hem of my tee. “Do you need help?”
She has to intervene because I can’t lift my arms, something that alarms both her and Tanisira. When I’m sitting in my flimsy bra, any shyness I might have felt evaporates immediately; they both look aghast. Tanisira’s face darkens with emotion and I look down to find my entire torso purpling. My dark skin hides the worst of it, but the rough outline of a harness is painted onto my chest. When the bruising fully develops, I’ll be absolutely mottled.
The sound that comes out of the captain’s throat is strangled, and she steps back, her jaw clenched.
“It’s okay, really. It doesn’t hurt that much.”
Khrys shoots me an incredulous look. “Define ‘that much’?”
I tell her how hard breathing is, and then I end up telling her about all my aches and pains collectively. I keep it to the damage I’ve sustained since crawling onto this godforsaken ship. It’s easier than the alternative, which is just too vulnerable for me right now. The last thing I want to do is subject myself to scepticism and infantilisation.
Over Khrys’s shoulder, I watch Tanisira’s body become increasingly wound up. If looks could kill, anything south of my chin would wither away right now. But then Khrys starts prodding around, and even though it’s gentle, I cry out. That seems to be the last straw. Tanisira turns on her heel and goes to sit stiffly beside Vee, head angled away from me.
Whilst Khrys starts rummaging around, I work on tamping down my anger until it’s about as compact as a coin and slot it away; a habit that was socialised into me. There is no point—absolutely none—in expressing my anger right now and I would hate to upset Vee more. It’s not his fault, of course he listened to his father. I start to wonder what else Dominik might have convinced Vee to hide from me, but slam the door shut on that thought. Instead, I look over at the two hunched in the corner. Vee is no longer jittering and now shows Tanisira his console.
A large yawn escapes from me, cracking my jaw in the process. I cannot wait to go to bed. With Vee back, I’m due a truly epic nap.
When Khrys is done patching me up, I’m wrapped from collarbone to hip in bandages. I look like a half-arsed Egyptian mummy.
“This is the latest advancement in Meditech. I’ve applied a salve to your injuries that will speed up the initiation of healing and should have you feeling better in a few hours. It requiresan elevated temperature, hence the bandages to trap your body heat. You won’t be fully healed, mind, but you’ll be functional.”
“When do I take them off?”
“Give it about three hours for your skin to absorb the salve. Try not to exert yourself whilst it’s working, or you’ll just stall the process. It’s not magic, so help it along by resting.”
I look at the bandages that are also around my wrist and my knee. She’d given me a painkiller before she started wrapping, and it had kicked in fairly quickly. Whatever connection Dominik has in pharmaceuticals is well worth whatever investment he made. I couldn’t afford this kind of healthcare even if I sold my organs.
“Not much I could do like this.”
“I would beverycareful. I have a strong suspicion that you have one or two bruised ribs. Can’t do much about those, but the salve will help a lot.”
Tanisira approaches, looking wary as Khrys helps me get dressed with a proficient hand. When I’m clothed, slightly out of breath, Khrys points a strong finger at the captain. It’s a vaguely threatening gesture, which surprises me considering their hierarchical roles. Then again, I wouldn’t say that Tanisira strikes me as power-hungry. It seems to me that she prefers to get on with it, with minimal fanfare.
“You get some sleep,” Khrys orders.
Tanisira’s expression softens, just the tiniest amount. “I will.”
“You said that yesterday, yet I found you draped over a console on the bridge this morning.”
“Time got away from me,” she shrugs.
I don’t know whether she means literally or figuratively but I dislike the idea of Tanisira passing out on the bridge while I’m holed up in her quarters.
She helps me off the bed with a gentle grip on my hips, and all my thoughts are strangled in surprise. No wince, no grimace, not so much as a wobble at the distribution of my weight. I don’t think I’ve ever been picked up so casually before. It does something funny to my chest—or maybe that’s the bruised rib.
We leave Khrys behind to strip the bed I was just sitting on. I don’t know how the salve works, but I’d been getting so increasingly woozy that I don’t realise where we are until we’re standing right outside a passenger cabin.
Vee takes my hand and says, in a barrage of excitement, “You’ve got to see my room.”
I thought he was being generic, but I’m proved wrong when he swipes the door open and pulls me along. The cabin ishis. The walls are decorated with holo-posters of Vee’s favourite bands, gamers and athletes, shimmying in looped movements. It’s about the same size as Tanisira’s cabin, but there is a considerable amount of furniture, including a Dreamframe and a holo-hub that takes up one whole wall. Right by the bed is a small walk-in closet, the door ajar and already spilling a plethora of clothes in all colours of the rainbow.
