A Web Serial by M.C.A. Hogarth
| 20. Confrontation. | 22. Loopholes. |
|---|
21. Mobilizing
Sickbay. Peaches is sitting on a bed while a corpsman checks her shoulder.
Peaches, hissing. "Dammit."
Corpsman. "Looks like you're going to be in a sling for a while, Lieutenant. Somehow you managed to break your collarbone."
Peaches. "Through my armor? The dent wasn't that big!"
Corpsman. "Don't ask me, ma'am, I don't know a thing about armor. Just telling you what I see, and what I see is that you need a sling and some painkillers."
Peaches. "Can't this be quick-fixed?"
Corpsman. "Sorry, ma'am. Medicine didn't get the upgrades other technologies did in the tech transfer... let's just say the bugs aren't much like us when it comes to health care. Sit tight, I'll be right back with your prescription."
Peaches sighs. While he's gone, she is handed an electronic dispatch on a reader. She scans, curses. When the corpsman finishes fitting her with a sling, she thanks him and hurries back to the map room.
"Gunny!"
Gunny, concerned. "Ma'am, you're in a sling."
Peaches, impatient. "It's nothing. I need suitcam footage from the team that just got in ASAP. We have an opportunity."
Gunny. "An opportunity, ma'am?"
"Our sister depot just got nuked, Gunny. And their company's shot up, but right now they've got nothing to guard."
Gunny, lifting his brows. "You think you can get them re-assigned here?"
"Hell, I don't know, but I'm going to try! So get me that data!"
Fiddler's Restroom. Samuel-Colt is still reclining, listening to Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." The music ends. For a long moment, nothing.
Then Samuel-Colt rises and looks at his new arm, which is far more articulated and delicate than the one he just shed. He rotates it. In the dark, it is hard to see: the rest of his body fluoresces, thanks to his paint, but the new arm is naked.
He is still for some time, holding the new arm. Then he goes to a narrow cabinet alongside the stereo. From it he removes a jar and a slender reed. He studies these items, hesitates....
...then with great determination strides out of the Restroom, surprising Kenyan, his human assistant.
Kenyan. "Sam? You're done, finally—wait, where are you going?"
Samuel-Colt. "I am not done yet." The door closes behind him.
Kenyan. "Wa—dammit. Fine, whatever. ****ing aliens!"
| 20. Confrontation. | 22. Loopholes. |
|---|
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