I feign innocence. “I saw something coming my way. He’ll be fine.” The ass is mesmerized by his blood dripping on the sand, I must have broken his nose.
Alder walks away from the commotion and I follow. Nash laughs behind me. Citiali walks with me. “What’s wrong with the kid?”
He shrugs, “something about his liver and iron.”
Alder moves his phone away from his ear. “Hemochromatosis.” Whatever the hell that is.
Citiali nods and types on his phone. “Hemochromatosis, genetic disorder that causes the body to absorb and store too much iron.” He looks up at me. “Isn’t it mercury that’s in fish?”
I nod. “I read about high iron in fish but I thought it was good. Maybe the absorb part is bad for kids like the mercury.”
He looks over the water then back with a nod. “Teller said that’s right. It’s a pediatric thing. Kids are tough.”
That’s why I’m not planning on kids. This world is crazy enough. He nods seriously. I shake my head.
His hands go up. “Mucimi, Teller, Nash and Aurora.” That’s Mucimi’s girls name, Aurora.
I nod and bend as Alder pockets his phone. “Will he be okay?”
“Yeah, they take blood.” He looks at Citiali and waves a hand at his head.
“They’ll draw a pint of blood and run some test for liver function. The treatment is removing blood. The mom said they’ve eaten raw fish.”
“Shellfish easy catch to net.” Alder corrects him. I nod. “Did you need anything else here?”
“I done. Dickass say boy sick eyes yellow. IT say boat come for rest.”
I turn and he climbs on my back. “Why did everyone else come?”
“Bored with robot. AI help to match passenger to room, food, drink, activity. Ship card done. Maintenance class done. Pres Jordan make virtual training. Doctor I do alone.”
Citiali laughs. “You want to learn to surf?”
Alder looks at the water. “No wave.”
I get it. “The ship has a wave pool to surf in.”
“Sophie and Peggy are surfing now. Asa sent me a picture.” Citiali turns his phone.
Charlie’s Angel in a damn suit. I glare at him and his smile gets wider. “Let’s go learn to surf.”
The asshole. He laughs.
Alder is all for surfing. Fuckin’ wonderful.
§*§*§
Cruise ship
Sophie
Peggy’s yell has me looking. She drops straight down while her board skims the water to my side.
I shake my head. She hit a minute the last time. The waves were ratcheting up but now the whitewater waves roll through at a much more mellow pace. I fallback.
“How are you standing so fast?” She got the shorter board like me.
“Follow the wall. Paddle at an angle then split the first wave that looks right and start lower. Use the coffee cup and ride it on through, they’ll roll out the next level. Use your back arm to guide your turns to the next waves.”
