Emilly leaned back in the chair, relearning how to breathe. The ship wheeled around again, but now back under the Duke's control. He grinned over at her again.
"Did you see the turret lock on?"
She nodded. "I did."
She watched as he moved towards Tannhäuser Station's new hanger bay, docking the ship with relative ease. She turned and looked after they left the ramp, and couldn't see a single scorch mark. She could still feel the gel knitting her chest together, stretching when she moved.
She trailed behind the Duke, taking in the places where ports were still sealed off until connecting pathways moved into place.
"Let me show you something," the Duke said. She picked up the pace a little, descending down a few ramps, walking into a small room surrounded by readout panels, the floor snaked in curving coils of occasionally glowing power cables.
"The singularity core," Hiro said proudly. "It's on line."
She looked at the roiling cyan shadows around the core struts, nodding.
He led her to the lift next.
"Which floor are we going to?" she asked. Hiro punched a button and the lift started to rise.
"Two," he murmured, as she watched the space between the levels, roiling purple star clouds and the planetoid gone dark.
"So, how are you?" he asked. It sounded casual enough. She might have even accepted it as the offhand comment it sounded like, save she saw him look at her briefly over his shoulder. She shrugged.
"Doing fairly well, I think," she said softly. "Which ship shot at me? Prometheus, or another one?"
"The new one," the Duke said.
"Babalon Working?"
"Yes." He touched his ear, and looked at her. "I have to go," he said softly. "I'll be back later."
She nodded, and watched him walk away, walking the other direction back to her shuttle, slowly, and flew back to Gearhaven. She returned to Darktow, peeling off the skinsuit, then shifting to another form. She pulled something out of her traveling closet that was far more comfortable to lay down in on the little dock.
She heard her comm chime.
"Good evening, Emilly," their medic said. She smiled.
"Evening!"
"How's it going?" he asked.
"I seem to be healing well."
There was a pause, then..."Healing?"
She nodded, then remembered he couldn't see it. "Tags are important on Tannhäuser. I'd forgotten, since the station isn't security-enabled, yet. Hiro took me on a tour of what's been added, the Babalon Working detected an intruder, and shot right through the shuttle."
She could almost see him, standing in the clinic across the bay, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"So...you got injured, and I was not informed..."
She thought. She furrowed her brow a little. She should have. "It just happened," she murmured.
"Do you need help?"
She shook her head, then again, realized he needed words. "No, if I'm careful tonight, I should be fine. There's some stabilizer gel thing the ship had, sealed over the obvious bits until I could shift."
There was another pause. "I would like to see you tomorrow morning to make a check-up on your injuries, if you're available."
She nodded. "I'll do my best."
"Good. Until then, take it easy tonight, and rest."
"I will, Doctor."
The comm signal closed and she closed her eyes with it for a long moment. She just lay on the plaid blanket and breathed, watching the stars wheel overhead, listening to the low sussuration of the waves striking the shore on either side. At least her chest was no longer an open wound, gel barrior in place or not. That had to count for something.
Right?
(Continued in part LXXXIII.)
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