As I soften into his arms, he catches me and chuckles. “That may have been one too many for you.”
“Never,” I pant. “Again, please.”
Elix reaches out of the shower and into a cabinet. His fingerprints glow on the metal as he draws out a vial and closes the door again.
He sweeps my hair aside, connects the vial to my port, and a wave of hot strength returns to my body.
“Thanks. I do feel better, but it seems like we should save those. You use them a lot on me.”
“You have had a lot of healing to do,” Elix says as we wash up. “But I appreciate you respecting the precious nature of serum. Most do not. They want it to be everywhere so they can be reckless and stop thinking about protecting themselves.”
“You mean lazy people want it as a backup.”
He runs his fingers over my bottom lip, his body slowly pulsing with green light. “Black market organizations want tosell it. Enemies and the federation want it to enhance their forces’ capabilities. But it isn’t as effective if it isn’t tuned to the person. In fact, there are those who are allergic to it. It can kill people who cannot tolerate certain serum substrates. That’s why it must be biologically adapted first.”
We dry off, and I climb into my race suit, all the while admiring him for what he’s capable of but more so what he put up with without turning vengeful and hateful like my father. “How long does it take for you to adapt and switch if there are multiple patients?”
“When I was doing it on a daily basis, I could adapt it in under a minute. But that is a less effective solution than one where I’ve had days to absorb DNA and fine-tune the serum. I can taste it, the changes, the subtle flavors.” Elix gets dressed in his tactical pants and motions me into the fuselage, where Aurelius has gathered some items for us.
Elix picks up an ABR t-shirt with the logo stitched into the chest.
“Rosy insisted.” Aurelius sighs. “You can keep your wristband, but no weapons are allowed inside the laser tag arena. They will pat you down.”
“I don’t understand why Elix can play,” I say. “He’s not a racer.”
“No one was willing to pair with you,” Aurelius clarifies.
I shake my head, realizing I’m still an outcast in society. But I guess that’s a good thing in my line of work. The fewer people that want to mess with me, the better. It’s easier to keep secrets when you have no friends.
Teol is probably just with Gashnaar. Can’t blame her for that.
When Elix and I are in the appropriate gear, his human concealer hiding his true color, we leave the ship behind with Aurelius trailing us.
An ABR official waves us on. “Why were you not in your room?”
A camera drone hovers down the hallway, no doubt listening.
“My room was broken into and ransacked. If that had happened to you, would you trust it?”
The drone speaks to me. “What were you hiding in there that made someone want to break in?”
The ABR official pauses. “You are not permitted to talk to the racers.”
“Someone has to do some investigating.”
“Who is that?” Elix asks.
The man shakes his head. “I don’t know. A few drones have started to communicate with racers. We’re trying to get control of it. But until the race is over, we don’t have time to sort out replacements.
The drone asks me the question again.
I glare into the camera lens as we pass. “I arrived here with a leather jacket, the clothes on my back, and a ticket from my mother. That’s it. So you tell me.”
Elix and I line up with the other racers, who mostly avoid us. Teol waves as Gashnaar straps her laser target harness on.
An ABR officer hands Elix and me a pack of gear including hover boots, chest and body armored detectors, special protective helmets, and gloves.
I help Elix clip into his armor while he puts on his boots, and then he does the same for me.
