“It wasn’t worth the risk.” Stryker set his course for Ghost City. The new coordinates had already uploaded into his navigation banks. He breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled Norah away from the window and the storm. Mercifully, the planet vanished. “Would you have given your recommendation to your superiors that Axone was a candidate for human habitation, after everything that had happened?”
“No. Never.”
“Then it doesn’t matter.” He led her back through the ship, past Matt, who for all his faults had a real old-fashioned broom in his hand.
“My computers are gone. Gone! And there’s blood on everything I ever cared about!”
“How can it not matter?” her question came as they walked past the Wieraptor’s body. He sensed its heat signature, alive and well despite the corpse the beast presented. Just like the creatures on Axone.
“The universe is big, practically infinite. One planet means little amongst a billion.”
“You make my work sound so useless.” Norah stumbled but he caught her and lifted her into his arms, picking up his pace until they were securely in the medbay. The alcohol was slowing her movements.
“I don’t think bringing oceans back to Earth is useless, I’m just saying, maybe Axone isn’t the means of doing so.”
Norah laid down on the pallet as the scans went off, sprays misted over her, as he tested her blood. When he found her clear, again, he handed her a canister and ration that would stabilize her imbalanced nutrient levels and a sedative to help her fall asleep.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked him, handing half her portion over. “Or drink?”
Stryker took it, peeled back the rest of the wrapping and fed it to her. “Not today.”
“I should’ve gone into cybernetics,” she smiled up at him.
“We might’ve never met then.”
“That...that would be sad.”
“I agree, Norah Lee, rest now. It’s over,” he stroked her hair away from her face and helped her settle onto the cot, adjusting the bed to produce a pillow top mat that would conform to her body.
“You drugged me,” she accused him as she curled up. “Should’ve known.”
“Yeah,” Stryker smiled under his mask.Why stop being a snake? Even when I don’t look like one.“Probably.” He watched as her eyelids drooped and her jittery movements ceased, as her heart rate settled to an even tempo, and her muscles relaxed. He waited as the cot formed into a pod around her, equipped with everything that would keep even a coma patient safe and secure.
“Will you join me,love?”
The lights dimmed low, soft, and the quiet of the room amplified the severity of the past few days. Norah fell asleep before he could answer.
Chapter Twenty-Two:
***
Norah woke up sometime later, her heart racing and sweat on her brow. She snapped open her eyes and sat up, lifted her hand to her chest, and felt her heart beating like a battering ram against her rib cage. The room blurred in low-light around her as she felt a rush of giddiness and fear flow through her.
Stryker’s medlab.She ran her fingers through her curls and squeezed her eyes shut, willing the whirl away.
Norah took a deep breath and eased her legs off of the pad. It shifted under her as she moved. She wiped her palms over the lab jacket she still wore. The taste of alcohol lingered on her tongue.
I’m thirsty.She shut the thought out knowing she was safe, she was fine and on the mend within the Cyborg’s domain.
Somehow, reminding herself of that, it relaxed the muscles in her shoulders and neck.
Her bare feet hit the floor; glancing down she saw her boots placed on the ground next to her. She stepped past them and headed for the open lavatory across from the bed and shook as the faucets came into view.
She wiped her clammy hands down her lab coat again.Water or dirt, water or dirt.Her eyes clenched shut as she stripped down and took a step into the cubicle. When the water shot out above her, soft as a sprinkle and hot to the touch, she shook out her whole body until the tingles inside her went away.
It’s not so bad.A soap receptacle came out of the wall. It was scentless and heavenly. Even better was the fact that the water felt clean as opposed to the rain that had soaked her for days. Still, she took the quickest shower of her life.
No matter how much she scrubbed, the bruises didn’t come off, the aches didn’t melt away, and her cracked nails didn’t round out.It really isn’t that bad.
