“Your friends told me about your nanobots,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t mind others had shared his story when he hadn’t yet chosen to tell her. “I’m glad they’re fighting for you.”
Cody closed his eyes and was silent for a long moment. “I was going to tell you.”
Tamsyn squeezed his hand again, wishing he didn’t have to be restrained but this conversation, the first in five days, didn’t mean he was out of the woods yet. “It doesn’t matter to me. We’re friends no matter what.”
“More,” he muttered, closing his eyes and slipping into sleep.
More what, she wondered, wishing he could have had the strength to finish the thought. If he survived, which was a huge if, did he mean he wanted to be more than friends with her? She was certainly receptive to the idea, although she had questions about the whole cyborg situation and what that would mean.
She was happy to report to the doctor Cody had awakened briefly and talked to her. “That’s real progress, isn’t it? His eyes were a lot less red too.”
“I wish I’d been here to see it but yes, even fleeting consciousness is a reassuring development.” Melly began administering the next dose of the infusion. Watching, Tamsyn was sure the blue lights under Cody’s skin intensified as the minutes passed.
“If—when he recovers,” she said as the doctor finished up and cleared away her medical instruments, “Will he need more freyquitanal to keep the virus from coming back?”
“I don’t believe so,” Melly told her. “If we have any left then of course we should keep it on hand in my medical supplies just in case. I tend to think of his nanobots as like our normal immune system in a way. So I’m hoping once the bots have the power to defeat the virus, they’ll retain a memory enabling them to fight it again, should he ever get bitten a second time. I wouldn’t advise Cody to go throwing himself in the path of rampaging infected swarms but in my professional opinion he should be back to normal. I’ll run tests of course. Jeff won’t let Cody loose from the restraints until I sign off on the recovery. He loves Cody like a brother and owes him his life several times over from what I’ve gathered, but Jeff is responsible for all of us and their mission here so he can’t take chances.”
On that note she patted Cody on the shoulder and left, exchanging a few quick words with Zach in the outer room.
Tamsyn insisted on sitting with Cody through the night and Jeff allowed this, although he and Melly and Trent made periodic trips to check in on her and on Cody’s progress. The second infusion failed to produce any new, visible improvement and Melly administered the third one late in the evening.
“We’ll have to go search for more freyquitanal at this rate,” she said.
“How long is the captain willing to give this experiment?” Tamsyn asked, heart thumping. Her biggest fear was Jeff would grow impatient if Cody lingered in an in- between state. She gathered the captain’s mission was critical and he’d already delayed their departure from the ranch in order to give Cody a chance at survival. “I’d volunteer to stay here and care for him, if he doesn’t get back on his feet before Jeff decides he has to leave.”
“Don’t worry about Jeff,” Melly said with assurance. “His job here on Randal Four is always on his mind but Cody is important to him, personally and in his role as a military commander. I can tell you he hasn’t said a word about leaving here any time soon.”
Tamsyn relaxed a bit . As the night wore on, she read to Cody until the words blurred on the pages and finally she put her head down and fell asleep. She shouldn’t drowse off and really should summon one of the others to take over for her but she wanted to be the first one to see Cody wake up recovered.
* * *
“Now that’s a pretty sight first thing in the morning,” said a deep voice, laced with amusement. “You all tousled and sleepy. A man could get used to having this view on a regular basis. Beats looking at the mugs of my fellow soldiers.”
“Cody!” Tamsyn sat straight up with a gasp, the book slipping from her lap. She rushed to the bedside. His eyes were clear, no hint of redness and he stretched as much as he could within the restraints. She caught his arm and was overjoyed not to see any sign of the black streaks or even the original bite mark. The blue lights from under his skin were also gone.
“What’s the verdict?” he asked with a hopeful smile. “Think I’m cured?”
She laced her fingers with his and squeezed. “I hope so. How do you feel?”
“Fine although I’d like to be released from these restraints and take a shower.” His stomach rumbled. “And have a good ranch breakfast, if you’re up to cooking?”
“Of course, anything you want.”
His brows drew together in a frown and he said, “For a while there I had awful dreams about eating.”
She smoothed his hair from his face. “But you’re past that now. I need to let the rest of them know the good news and Dr. Jericho has to come give her opinion.” Suddenly embarrassed to be touching him while he was restrained Tamsyn snatched her hand back. Her face heated as she remembered all the intimate care tasks she’d carried out for him while he was fighting the virus. It had been necessary and at the time she’d been clinical about it but now she was embarrassed.
“Hey,” he said softly, “Whatever you’re thinking, stop. I think there were times only your voice reading me the stories about your ancestors kept me alive, gave me something clean and positive to focus on, versus the horrors the virus was trying to insert into my head. I owe you.”
Tamsyn nodded but was unable to speak for the strength of her emotions right now. She flew across the room to the outer door, flinging it open. As Ryan, who was on duty at the moment turned to her in surprise, she shouted, “He’s awake and he’s back to normal. Call the captain and the doc to come and verify so we can get him loose from the bed.”
Ryan peered around her into the room to see for himself and gave Cody a wave. “Glad to see you back with us, brother. It’s been quite the fight.”
“Glad to be back but I want out of these restraints and the pretty lady won’t free me until the captain and the doc give their thumbs up so can you get them in here?”
Tamsyn fidgeted while she waited for the arrival of the decisionmakers. It felt wrong to sit, so she paced and straightened things which didn’t need organizing. Finally she went into the bathroom and set out clean towels. When she stepped into the bedroom, Melly and Jeff came in, both with guarded excitement.
“I’d salute but I’m kinda at a disadvantage here,” Cody said with a chuckle. “Good to see you, doc. Thanks for fighting for me, both of you.”
