My stomach thumped against my belly as it tried to leap out of my skin and ingest the food without using my mouth as middle man.
"Well done." I pointed to the fat circling the thick cut. "I like that crispy almost burnt and can I have steak sauce and salt and pepper?"
Sacrilege at many chop houses, but I craved the spices almost as much as I wanted the meat. I sucked on my bottom lip. Maybe I could suck on a salt shaker until the steak was done.
Layla snapped her fingers before carrying away my raw meat. "Of course, the salts will do your blood good." She hustled across the room and popped the steak into a microwave. "Do you have a preference of crisps?"
My nose twitched at the heavenly aroma of barbequed meat with garlic, onions and salt. Oh man, oh momma. I covered my mouth to check for drool while leaning toward the enticing scent. "Just burn the edges a bit."
And get it to me.
Tobias pulled me back firmly in the bed before I toppled onto the floor. "She means potato chips."
"Ew, no. I'm a Funyuns girl."
Tobias handed me my half-full glass of soda.
"Funyuns?" Layla tucked an escaped lock of hair into her bun and checked her electronic tablet. "I do not believe that is in our database. Give me a moment."
I sucked an ice cube from my glass and rolled it around my tongue before crunching it into pieces and swallowing. My stomach wasn't fooled for a minute. It wanted food. Real food. Steak food. God, I felt like a vampire scenting blood first thing after the sunset. I sat up in the bed. No… The CeeBees couldn't have turned me into a vampire. Sure they brought me back from the dead and the stench of blood normally repulsed me.
"Colonel, why don't you clean her up a bit? It looks as if the CeeBees won't be recycling the blood." Layla set the steak on the table tray. Steam danced above the sizzling meat.
Would it be rude to fall on the meat and rip and gnash the flesh from the bone with my teeth? Bed rails cut into my ribs when I stuck my face into the steam.
Layla produced a steak knife and fork from her pocket and began dicing the slab into bite-sized morsels. "No doubt the blood degenerated too much in the time she was hibernating."
Tobias strode to the bank of cabinets on the far wall. "Won't a sonic bath interfere with the data's signal?"
After setting the fork on the plate, Layla scooted the meat offering forward. "Use soap and water on that arm."
I plucked up the fork, speared two cubes of steak and shoveled them inside my mouth. Salt and spice tangled with the tang of tomato, smoke and Worchester sauce. Closing my eyes, I fell into meatsa nirvana. What had we been talking about?
Warm water trickled over my free arm followed quickly by the soft lap of a sponge.
Oh right. Adding another couple pieces to the other bite of steak, I plucked at my stiff shirt. "Can I have clean clothes too?"
Layla grasped the edges of the yellow Funyuns bag with both hands and popped it open. "After Technician Minor removes the data."
Now she was concerned about the data? As soon as she set the bag on the table, I dove inside and scooped out a handful of salty loops. "And when will that be?"
I ate all the pieces sticking out of my grasp before uncurling my hand and nibbling my palm clean. Salt. Onion. Salt. Onion. Salt and, oh God, salt. My taste buds chanted in a tantric orgasm.
"As soon as the colonel cleans up your arm, I'll inspect the area around the light stamp to make certain it is stable." Layla refilled my cup with soda from a fresh two-liter bottle.
Ice chinked against glass as I picked it up. Tobias's people must store enough food for a nuclear winter in those cabinets. Not that I was complaining. But the shallow shelves hardly seemed deep enough to contain an infinite variety of goodies and a refrigerator.
Layla removed a silver Lifesaver roll from the side of her electronic tablet and inspected the light bar on its side. "I'll stand by to remove the arm if the tissue starts to become necrotic."
My glass landed with a thud and grape soda splattered my hand. I stared at the purple droplets. "You'll amputate my arm?"
I liked my arm. We've been together since before I was born. I didn't want to part with it.
"Only if absolutely necessary." Layla nodded and the Lifesaver roll buzzed softly.
"Nice to know you don't do it for kicks and grins." That was the saw? I tucked my arms behind my back. Dampness seeped through my shirt and along my back.
Tobias tugged my arm free before wrapping a towel around it and patting it dry. "Don't worry, we can re-grow you another."
Easy for him to say, he'd already gone through the process. I glared at his broad shoulders, seeing in my mind's eye the raw scars circling his joints. I'd never be able to wear a tank top again. Oh for pity's sake. The fate of the Earth is in my hands and that's what I'm thinking about. Right. Positive thoughts. My new arms might not have flying squirrel skin flaps. "How long will that take?"
"A week." Layla pinched a Funyun and crunched into it. Her forehead wrinkled for a moment before she swallowed and filched another one. "But it will require more raw materials." Dusting her fingers on her blue uniform, she glanced at the hologram above my head. "Did you perchance loose an appendage while you were hibernating?" She popped another round into her mouth. "Or were you not aware when Ulla was mutilating you?"
Tobias flinched before twisting the towel into a tight rope.
I shrugged. At least the good doctor didn't try to wrap the ugliness in pretty bows and ribbons. "I was aware of everything while she worked." I patted his trembling hand and rubbed the taut muscles of his forearm. "I didn't feel anything. I'm pretty sure Ulla took off my baby toe."
I wiggled said toes under the blanket and resisted the urge to look. Last time I checked, they were all present and accounted for. No need to tempt fate by constantly counting my good fortune.
"That explains the imbalance." Layla tapped an onion chip against her lip before biting it in half. Chewing slowly, she walked around my bed to stand beside Tobias. "You haven't suffered any damage from hibernating for so long." She bent over my arm and pressed the lifesaver tube against my tattoo. The bar light on the side flashed green. "Technician Minor, you may begin."
"Thank you, ma'am." The black-haired man leapt from the doorway like a thoroughbred fresh from the gate. Bounding across the room, he plowed into the space beside Tobias and latched onto my arm. Bending at the waist, he practically shoved his nose into my tattoo while his purple flashlight banged against my knee.
Moving my leg aside, I shuffled the steak against my cheek and felt the lump dissolve. "Do you need me to do anything?"
"Just hold still." His fingers trembled as they traced the swirling pattern of the blue ink. Humming, he bounced on the balls of his feet.
"I might say the same to you." I swallowed the remnants of food in my mouth. Thank God the man wasn't a surgeon. I'd probably end up with a finger attached to my armpit. I glanced up at Tobias.
He nodded once but couldn't quite meet my gaze.
Not the vote of confidence I'd been hoping for.
Minor scratched at the wispy moustache on his upper lip before his gaze traveled up my arm to focus on my face. "You're right. This is my first removal."
I blinked. Surely, I didn't hear what I thought I heard. I set my fork on the plate and wiped my lips on my napkin. "You haven't done what before exactly?"
"Remove a light stamp in the field." His smile wobbled then stiffened, before falling away completely.
In the field, that's different. I relaxed into the mattress and swallowed a swig of soda. "For a moment, I thought you hadn't removed a light stamp tattoo thingy at all."
Revealing bright, white teeth, he tossed back his head and laughed. The high pitched notes would have done a mad scientist proud.
My skin crawled. It's just the dried blood, not fear.
Tobias clamped a hand on Minor's shoulder.
The tech snapped off his merriment and squirmed free. "I've performed the procedure once in the lab.
" With a sideways glance at Tobias, Minor straightened his uniform and swallowed so hard his Adam's apple bobbed. "But with the others watching me, I became quite nervous."
I nodded. Yep, having an audience always made me nervous too.
Tobias narrowed his eyes. "And how did the procedure go, Minor?"
The tech shrugged. "The animal exploded from a positive feedback loop."
Soda shot out of my nose. I blinked back the tears from the burn and blotted the dots of liquid on my chest.
"Uh. Ouch." Maybe I could have my arm removed now and save the blowing up in my face for later?
Tobias patted my arm but he speared Minor with a look just short of homicidal. "You'll be fine."
Yeah threaten the already nervous tech who admitted to blowing up an animal because of anxiety. Someone had to remain calm. While it should be the tech, I might need to set the example. I filled my lungs then let the breath out slowly. One by one, I pried my fingers off the bed rail. I was calm. Assured. The tattoo removal would go smoothly. No exploding pieces of Rae. Donning a serene mask, I eyed Tobias—my protector and major source of Tech Minor's discomfort. "Have you ever done it before?"
"No."
"That's too bad." I would have trusted Tobias. Why? I don't know. The man threatened to kill me more than everyone I'd ever met combined. The CeeBees had definitely rewired my brain wrong. I gulped down half my soda without really tasting the grape or fizz. I'd already given my life for the cause, how much would losing an arm hurt? "Let's do it."
Layla bustled over holding a microscope-like piece of equipment with the tubular part missing. "This should hold the Gruseation tube and her arm still while you work."
Leaving my side, Tobias started opening and closing drawers in the bank of cabinets on the far wall. He paused over one drawer and removed a roll of white gauze.
Geez, once they were given the green light, these guys really hopped to it. I set my glass down with a thunk. I just hoped they reacted as efficiently if parts of me exploded.
Layla dropped the right bed rail and screwed the microscope onto braces that seemed to grow up from under the bed. After locking the braces in place, she thumped on the base of the microscope. "That should do it."
Technician Minor smoothed his wispy moustache before tugging on the apparatus and nodding. "Yes, I think so." He slid the purple flashlight into the empty rings of the microscope, then raised and lowered it.
The guy probably needed my arm in place so he would know how high to keep the beam. Taking a deep breath, I eased my arm onto the black platform.
Minor mumbled something and raised the flashlight and held it there. Without prompting, the rings collapsed to hold the flashlight snuggly.
I yanked my arm back. Whoa. Dude. Metal isn't supposed to shrink like that.
Minor lunged for my arm and jammed it into place. "Strap her arm down."
I gritted my teeth but didn't fight the manhandling. Men had been punched in the nose for less.
"Next time you want Rae to do something, ask her Minor." Tobias ripped open the package of gauze and unrolled it around my arm and the platform. "She's a person not a piece of equipment."
Crimson stained Minor's smooth cheeks as he stared down the barrel of his flashlight.
I waited for an apology, some small speck that acknowledged my humanity. And waited. What a jerk.
"Wait." Minor hummed a few bars. "The light stamp is not focused. She needs to move her arm up a little."
She? What am I chopped liver? The guy could at least ask me. He wouldn't even have to yell as I was laying not even a foot from his face.
Tobias shrugged and cut off the strip of gauze.
Clamping my lips together, I inched my arm forward.
"No, no, no." Minor's brown eyes rolled around in his head. "Forward," he snapped. He grabbed my arm and scooted it an inch back toward my body. "How can you not know what forward means?"
"Do that again, Minor," Tobias grabbed the technician's thumb and bent it backward, "and you'll be doing the procedure with one thumb."
With a yelp, Minor stumbled right into Layla.
The doctor shook her head and scooted a medical table over to the other side next to my meal tray. The wheels of the silver tray table squeaked as she approached. "If I wanted to babysit spoiled toddlers, I would have transferred the Nursery Corps."
Tobias released his grip with a toss of his hand and knotted the gauze holding my arm in place.
Minor shook his hand then blew on the red skin.
Layla unrolled a cloth containing gold cylinders tucked into the fabric like bullets. "Eat before your food cools."
Right, eat. Turning back to my plate, I eyed the congealed blood on the white stoneware and my stomach cramped.
Layla walked over to my side and stole another Funyun. "Would you like me to raise a screen so you don't have to see?"
"No. I need to see." If I didn't finish my dinner, she'd call off the procedure. We both knew it, but apparently my stomach hadn't gotten the memo. Spearing a few pieces on my fork, I blew the bangs out of my eyes and stuffed the meat in my mouth.
"Don't worry." Layla patted my arm before stealing another yellow oval. "You're in a medical facility. If you have to lose an arm, this is the best place to do it."
The steak dissolved into mud in my mouth. I fought the gag reflex and swallowed the wad down.
"That's comforting." Not. Geez, was the empathy gene bred out of these space people?
Tobias finished tying my wrist to the platform. He tossed what was left of the gauze roll from hand to hand before clapping Technician Minor on the back and shoving him against the foot of my bed. "Why don't you explain what you're doing?"
Minor shook his hand once more then sidled closer to the Gruseation tube. "That might be distracting."
Tobias tightened his grip until his knuckles shown white and Minor cringed. "It will reassure us that you haven't forgotten a step. We've all had the training."
"Yes. Yes. Of course." Minor sighed when he was released and ran his fingers up the body of the flashlight before peering down the top part. "Right now I'm aligning the Gruseation tube with the light patch." A circle of white light appeared on my forearm and completely circled the blue tattoo. "It is important that the optics focus on the entire patch or the data may be corrupted."
And I could loose my arm and life for nothing. I nodded and lanced the last bites of steak. "Hence the strapping down of my arm and the equipment."
"Precisely." Minor cleared his throat then cracked his knuckles. The pinched look left the sensitive skin around his eyes. "It's good to note that the CeeBees didn't completely obliterate your higher reasoning functions."
Ah, so he finally acknowledged I wasn't a complete idiot. Nice to know he didn't think of me as disposable as the animal he blew up.
"It might have made me smarter." Layla's eyes lasered onto me. Right. Alien humans didn't have the same sense of humor. I dropped my fork onto my plate. "That was a joke." I daubed at the corners of my mouth. "Although I'm not a technical person, I understood everything he said."
Minor twittered. "Well, I haven't exactly been speaking scientifically—dumbing it down to fit in with the locals, you know."
Tell that to my brain. And as a local, I felt mildly insulted. We weren't stupid; we just didn't have all the advantages of fifty millennia of study. I reached for a handful of Funyuns and began nibbling at the pieces sticking out.
Hey, I knew when to shut up.
Most of the time.
Still giggling, Minor returned to staring down the barrel of his purple flashlight.
Layla and Tobias continued to study me.
Note to self: don't ever mention the CeeBees again. I pulverized the rest of my chips and washed down the crumbs with a gulp of soda. A flicker caught my attention. My tattoo was now bathed in red, orange, yellow, green then blue. "The light changed color."
Minor leaned back to look at the light show on my skin. "Right now it is selecting the
best wavelength to extract the data."
And surprise, surprise that seemed to be blue. I gritted my teeth as a thousand ants seemed to march across my forearm. Itchy, Itchy. My free hand curled into a fist and I punched the mattress by my leg. "My skin is tingling. Is that normal?"
Minor frowned. "But I haven't done anything."
Tobias joined the doctor on the left side of the bed and set his hand over my fist. "Can the CeeBees cause interference?"
"CeeBees?" Minor smoothed his moustache and stared up at the ceiling. "I've never heard of them being used in conjunction with a Gruseation tube."
Uh-oh. I didn't like the sound of that. I glared at the tattoo. The stupid thing had better be worth all this bother.
"Rudd Torunn had been assassinated and his body was getting ready to be recalled to the ex-fil site." Tobias stroked the inside of my wrist and my fingers uncurled.
Again with the touchy-feely. Not that I minded, but he certainly sent mixed signals. Seductive one minute and threatening the next.
"Why didn't you just lop off the arm and bring it to me?"
I glared at Tobias. That was never mentioned as an option. I'd just been told to get the data, and, voila—instant tattoo.
He ran his hands through his short hair and cupped the back of his head. "We had to act as if we never received the data. UED Control has an inside informant. They made sure Rae didn't get any data on the Torunns, and that their arrival information came too late for us to reach the landing site. No one will know we have the data until we're ready to act."
Okay, when he explained it like that I could forgive him, even if my arm blew up. But why were these guys acting like this is the first time they've heard about the mole? Why hadn't they been briefed earlier?
Layla stroked the blood trails on my arm. "So Ulla Torunn didn't inflict this damage to retrieve the data?"
I snorted. "No, she did it because she's a psychotic bitch."
"You owe your swear jar another dollar." Tobias stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a shiny silver dollar. "Even if your assessment is correct."
Blue Maneuver-Urban SciFi/Fantasy (Extraterrestrial security program) Page 20