Saryn of Elisia by StarAndrea

Author:StarAndrea [StarAndrea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2018-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Part 4: Ambassador

The ready room was brightly lit even in the middle of the night, illumination mimicking the flood of desert sun through surface vents and mirrors. The holographic matrix showed the second ambush, while Lyris’ system patrol had been relegated to one of the upper monitors. Kris had two independent EPD channels muted and a lit camera she told Saryn to stay away from.

“Do you have any medical experience?” she was asking Jenna.

“Field Medic Level 2,” Jenna said. “Surface survival and fighter first aid.”

“Good,” Kris said, even as Saryn looked up. “Would you make sure he’s okay? His AI says the enhancers read fine, but we try to document some kind of non-mechanical check when someone crashes.”

“Does that happen often?” Jenna asked, not as though she expected an answer.

“More often than we’d like,” Kris replied. “Timmin, can you talk to Marsda?”

“On it,” Timmin said without looking up.

Kris pointed at Saryn before she stepped into the holographic matrix. “Don’t say anything,” she reminded him.

He glanced at Timmin, who didn’t appear to be speaking to anyone yet, and took the chance. “You’re trained in fighter first aid?” he whispered to Jenna.

She smiled at him even as Kris called, “What did I just say?”

Yes, Jenna mouthed, which in no way answered the question he wanted to ask.

She held out her hand, palm up, and he recognized the gesture from the evening before. He put his hand over hers and for a moment he felt nothing. She was just standing there, reassuring him, centering them both in the middle of an operation they didn’t understand. Timmin was talking now, and Kris was following the raiders’ recorded retreat.

The whisper of ventilation was soft through the flickers of holographic light and her hand was hot under his. He closed his eyes instinctively, remembering the flood of sensory information that had come with enhancer injection, but it didn’t overwhelm him. It was just… there.

He could feel Lyris doggedly dragging his attention away.

Jenna tapped her finger against the inside of his wrist, and he nodded without thinking about it. He was fine. She wanted him to take off his flight suit. Not so she could see him, but so that he could go through the mechanical process of using every part of his body. It would briefly test balance and coordination at the same time, both basic indicators of head trauma.

Saryn opened his eyes in surprise. Jenna’s expression mirrored his, but she smiled when he thought, That’s exceptionally useful.

He didn’t hear her voice in his head the way he imagined he could hear Lyris’, but she was clearly reacting to the sentiment. As carefully as he could, he thought, Do you know what I’m thinking?

She nodded, but it was Lyris he heard reply, Of course she doesn’t know what you’re thinking. You’re broadcasting everything you feel and she’s picking up your curiosity. She’d have to be blind not to.

Saryn turned his head, staring at someone who wasn’t there.

What. If it was possible for a voice in his head to snap, Lyris sounded very cross at that moment.

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