Thruster shrugs.
Rebel nods.
I think they’re having a private conversation. “At least tell me what decision you reached.”
Rebel is careful to keep my breasts covered as he surveys the scar on my chest. “No sign of infection on the outside. Just make sure you take this when you wake and before bed for the next few nights to help you heal and accept your cybernetics.”
He hands me a small vial of crystals.
“What is it?”
“The best medicine Cara could cook up out here. It’s a concentration of minerals and antibiotics with a few calories.”
“Please don’t tell me I got a Titan’s heart.”
Thruster shakes his head. “Parts.”
“Yeah, but…”
Rebel touches my knee. “You do not have anyoneTitan’s heart. We salvage everything we can find. They didn’t die recently. They’re from older models, Wrecktanks, before we were made fully machine. Your heart should never stop again.”
“Again?” I slap a hand to my forehead. “You’re telling me I died?”
Thruster slumps. “Yeah.”
“Why don’t you go get her some water?” Rebel asks.
Thruster gets up slowly as if his entire body hurts. Then he walks off to talk to Poppy. She puts a hand on her hip and clearly scolds him, though I can’t hear what she says.
Rebel pulls a small pouch from a pocket and hands it to me. “This is a healing paste Cara made for burns. It works for Thruster’s heat, to a degree, anyway.”
“What’s going on with him? He was so strong up there but now seems shy.”
Rebel’s eyes are kind when they meet mine. “We are designed to protect your kind at all costs. He believes he failed.”
“Gravity isn’t his fault.”
“We all know that. But it doesn’t change how we feel when we think we could’ve done more.”
Thruster heads back with a canteen.
Rebel checks on him, then says one last thing quietly to me. "Holo has never seen him fly so fast in all of his operation. You did something to him—changed him."
“Good or bad?”
Rebel smiles and gets up. “Transformational.”
I find my bra lying on the ground beside me and pick it up as I think about what he’s said. “Can I wear this again?”
“You’re healed enough to return to normal life. Just take it easy until you get acquainted with what your new heart can do.”
“Thank you.”
Thruster hands me the canteen and sits as Rebel leaves. “Everything okay?”
“Sounds better than okay, but I guess time will tell.”
He watches Rebel leave the women’s quarters. “I’m glad one of us breaks rules. He’s saved more lives and Sparks than I can count.”
