Against That Time by Edward McKeown

Author:Edward McKeown [McKeown, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: androids, Space Opera, Science Fiction, fantasy
ISBN: 9781943690060
Publisher: MoonDream Press, Copper Dog Publishing
Published: 2016-08-18T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

I passed from sleep to wakefulness so quickly it startled me. Usually I greeted the day with a growling indifference bordering on hostility. Today I sat up almost bemused at how refreshed and healthy I felt. The aches and pains of all the injuries and strains of the last few days seemed absent. I realized that under the covers I was naked, as I usually slept. Odd, I didn’t remember undressing. In fact, I didn’t remember anything other than standing up from a table with Maauro.

I turned to the right and there she was, watching me and seated on the floor as her weight could tax some of the chairs unless she locked her legs in position. She smiled and rose smoothly, if not gracefully. “Wrik, are you feeling better?”

“Yeah,” I said sheepishly. “Sorry about conking out on you. High-G is more fatiguing then I realized. God, what a few good hours’ sleep does for you.”

“It has actually been more than a few hours. I must apologize for not consulting you, but you were not in a condition for discussion. You have been asleep for more than thirty-six hours. It is the morning of the day after our venture to the Ribisan side.”

“What!” I said. “Out for a day and half?”

“Your physical condition concerned me. I have affected such repairs and restoration on you as I could. I judged that any effect it had on the mission was inconsequential, weighed against your health.”

I was torn a little between being touched over her concern, and annoyed that she had acted without consulting me, but there was little point in arguing with Maauro. If she felt she needed to act, she would. She was probably right anyway.

“What happened while I was out?”

“I will brief you while we eat,” Maauro walked out and returned with two trays putting one on the bed next to me and settling on the floor beside the bed.

The smell of food made me acutely aware of how long it had been since meals. Knowing Maauro, she’d injected me with vitamins and sugar solutions, but it did little to distract me for a large pile of eggs and sausage. Maauro kept me company for form’s sake, knowing that I did not like to eat alone and quite capable of enjoying food in her own fashion. A few minutes silence followed as I attacked breakfast. When I’d knocked the edge off my hunger and looked at her, she took up her report again.

“Jaelle is safe at her hotel. She has been in communication with the Guild about her cargo and has been exploring the area around her hotel to no great effect. I have asked her not to begin inquiries about the project or its personnel until some logical reason arises for her to express an interest. Meanwhile, she is finding out what she can about how the Guild functions here.

“I wish I could see her.”

“I know she wishes that too.”

“Are you in touch with her?” I asked

“Only periodically,

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