“You’re alright, Garnet. The wires are detached from your spine. They’re just under the skin now. Now, captain, one hand to each side,” Alred instructed. “Pull straight out.”
Tanin leaned over her. His fingers definitely grazed her this time as he did as instructed. He took hold of each side of the collar. Looking her right in the eye. She stared back at him. His shoulders tensed and she felt something tugging at the back of her neck.
She gasped, but before she could say anything, something cracked. Snapped. Tanin’s arms jerked to the sides and the air was cold against the newly exposed skin of her neck.
Garnet froze. Waiting for something. But there was no flash of pain. She didn’t lose feeling or strength in her fingers or toes.
Tanin stood straight, holding his hands up. The collar was in two pieces, one in each hand. The front end was open neatly, like that’s where it had been latched closed, but it was the back half of the pieces that caught her attention.
There was a panel, thicker than the rest of the collar, right where it would have pressed against her spine. The perimeter of the panel was smooth, thick but otherwise blended into the rest. But the inside looked like the devil’s toothbrush. A forest of unnervingly long needles, most of which had little lines of light in them. Electronics. There was some blood on it. Not as much as she would have thought, considering the size of those needles.
But, disturbingly, she felt no pain.
“Sealing the holes,” Alred said, the ring around her head moving just a little bit faster.
“Are there holes in my spine right now?” Garnet asked, her voice extremely stable. Probably because she was afraid of shaking at all lest she mess herself up permanently.
“It’s barely bleeding,” Goldie said quickly, her head angled to the side.
“The needles are coated in a toxin,” Alred said from above. “Numbs the pain, prevents bleeding, and deactivates the immune system so the body can’t fight off the needle wires. And no, there are no holes in your spine right now. I ejected them before I had Tanin pull it apart. Very simple once you know what to do. It won’t take long at all for Goldie. There’s just the skin and fascial holes remaining.”
“Am I okay?” Garnet asked, looking back to Tanin. Needing some kind of reassurance.
“You’re fine,” he obliged evenly.
“The damage is purely soft tissue,” Alred said. “Very easy fix. I can just set the automatic wound healing function on the mediring to run.”
“My spine hasn’t been poked through a bunch of times?”
“No,” Alred said, chuckling. “The collar can’t damage your nervous system. That would ruin the point since it relies on it being intact to move your body.”
Somehow, that wasn’t very reassuring. But Tanin’s gaze was as he set aside the collar pieces. He kept his eyes on her, not even questioning why she was staring back at him, until Alred declared-
“All done. You can get up now. Next patient.”
Though he said it jovially, Garnet was very cautious about sitting up straight. Tanin and Goldie both stood to either side of her, watching her carefully. But she didn’t feel weak or dizzy or pain or anything as she tossed her legs over the side. She reached up to touch the back of her neck. There was definitely a new patch of skin clear of hair, and some bumps that felt like scars she knew she didn’t have before…
But she was intact and whole and, when she stood up, she didn’t have any issues balancing.
Goldie’s collar was removed much faster. Not only was she more confident about laying down and Tanin knew to wait for Alred to tell him to remove the collar, but Alred himself was faster with whatever he was doing to deactivate them. Like he said, it only took a few seconds now that he knew what program to run in the collar to get it to detach itself.
This time, when Tanin ripped the pieces of the collar away, Garnet got to watch as just a couple, slow drops of blood dripped onto the bed before Alred sealed the wounds on the back of her sister’s neck. The sight made her stomach turn. She wasn’t the biggest fan of blood. But she ignored it as she stayed close to her sister to support her.
“I’m afraid I don’t know how to make the mediring heal without scarring. I’m sorry,” Alred said, popping back into existence. “But I did my best to minimize it.”
Garnet shook her head, giving him a grateful smile. “I’m not worried about some bumps on my neck. Thank you for getting them off.”
“Yes, thank you,” Goldie added, both of them smiling at the two males.
Alred chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. “I don’t need such gratitude, but I will take it. Thank you dearly.”
“Alred,” Tanin spoke to him, gathering the ring pieces. “Guide them to their room. I’ll bring these to Vytln to destroy. You two…”
Garnet straightened, facing him curiously. Enjoying the scarlet of his gaze.
“Make yourselves comfortable,” he said. “I’ll bring you some food later.”
“Thank you,” Goldie chirped brightly.
