Pirate Festival by Carysa Locke

Author:Carysa Locke [Locke, Carysa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Charity Vandehey

Chapter 7

Nayla insisted on taking Ari back to the infirmary and doing a full physical and mental work up. A battery of tests proved to her satisfaction that he was, for now, well within the normal parameters of health. He was a cooperative patient. Not once did he offer complaint. Even Doc would have approved.

After due consideration, she decided to tell Ari about the device. That may have contributed to his cooperation, since he wanted to know if there were any perceptible changes it might have made. Nanotech could be programed for practically anything. They were used for everything from regulating body health, to changing hair, eye, nail, and skin colors, to knitting broken bone. Nayla and Ari both wanted a thorough examination done in case this device had anything more nefarious planned than a few days in a coma.

After three hours, she sat back sipping a nutritional beverage (not mnemosa) and regarded him while he, too, drank one. She’d felt awake and aware before he showed up at her door. Now, her feet ached, she could feel the tension in her shoulders creeping into a headache, and weariness pulled at her. Normally, a quick boost from her Talent would take care of all these problems, but since she’d spent so much time yesterday and today using it, that would only exacerbate her exhaustion.

You should eat and rest, in that order. Haggerty’s mental voice was laced with concern.

I’m fine.

“A medical miracle made you skip breakfast, and you’ve been on your feet working practically since the moment we arrived. Don’t argue with me.”

Nayla glared at her friend.

“You haven’t eaten?” Ari jumped down from the examination table he’d been sitting on. Nayla automatically evaluated his movement, but it was easy and graceful in the way of someone with superior muscle control, like a trained dancer. Or a soldier. He’d recovered quickly from his ordeal, due in no small part to the reinforcement she’d given his body’s natural systems with her Talent.

Haggerty smiled, the jerk. He’s known exactly what he was doing by speaking his concerns out loud.

“I’m fine,” she said, looking back at Ari. She wasn’t sure why she was being so stubborn. The nutritional beverage was tasty and sweet, but it did little to curb the hunger pains of her empty stomach.

Ari crossed the room to her. “It has been days since I’ve eaten,” he said. He placed a hand on the flatness of his abdomen and his expression changed to one of wistfulness. “I would very much like to eat a meal, if my doctor would clear me for one.”

“Of course.” Nayla felt her face going red. She should have thought of Ari’s inevitable hunger sooner, but her mind had been too caught up in the puzzle he represented. His quick recovery also meant a lot of expended resources. He was probably ravenous. “Small portions to start. Your body has been provided with nutrients these past days, but your stomach may need to adjust to solid food again.”

He held out a hand.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.