Voodoo stood in the waiting room of West Central's
med bay, nervously drumming his fingers against the wall. His optics, normally
hidden behind a smooth, dark visor that hid all of the upper half of his
face, glowed a silvery white. He was extremely agitated and it showed.
"He'll be okay," Spellbinder said and smiled slightly.
Voodoo continued his drumming. Finally he whirled away
from the wall and started pacing. Spellbinder watched him for a while,
then sighed.
"Voodoo......"
The other Sentinel stopped and shot him a look that told
Spellbinder he should leave it. "Kyle will be all right," he still said.
"Jill said he only received some burns and cuts. He was in shock and probably
still is."
Voodoo growled darkly. "It shouldn't have happened! I
was supposed to be there and then it wouldn't have happened!"
Spellbinder shook his head. "But it did and Kyle is one
of the lucky people." Voodoo winced and Spellbinder scolded himself. "Voodoo,
please.... Let them do their job, give Kyle some good night's rest and
he'll be back to normal!"
But the dark blue Sentinel only snorted and went back
to either pacing or nervously drumming his fingers against the wall. Spellbinder
gave up and simply kept his friend company. The accident might not have
included Kyle if Voodoo had picked his partner up. Kyle had taken a commercial
shuttle and it had suffered severe engine failure, crashing outside Colbank,
one of the newer settlements. No one had died, but a lot of people had
been severely injured. Kyle had been unconscious, was still in shock and
had suffered some bruises, cuts and burns. Voodoo was blaming himself for
it and Spellbinder thought he knew why. It hit too close to home. In a
way this had been the same situation as when Voodoo and Kyle had finally
realized their Interface....
......Dr. Kyle Scott had been at the site of the accident
because he had driven along the road where it had happened – a rather deserted
strip. Had he known what expected him, well, he would have come as well.
He was a medic; he wanted to help people. And the victim had been in bad
need of help, trapped in a junk pile of metal, bleeding badly, unconscious.
"Scalpel," he said, concentrating on his patient. The
tool was handed to him and Kyle continued working.
At least his patient was human. Not exactly in all aspects,
but human nonetheless. Kyle didn't know why he had been recruited to operate
on the man since there were at least two more medics here, currently assisting
him, but here he was – wherever that was. Maybe they didn't want anyone
running around, babbling about their kind, and so they had simply abducted
the only witness, abducting a very capable surgeon in the process.
Kyle had come to the crash site, finding a smoking, half-wrecked
truck-like vehicle, badly shot up if he was the judge of it, and the driver
with several broken ribs, one who had pierced the lung, trauma, bruises,
some more broken bones and a concussion. And then the cavalry had arrived:
a bunch of transforming robots and their armor-clad human or humanoid friends.
Kyle had not asked too many questions, simply barked some orders. Kayla,
one of the female humanoid partners, had apparently understood the severity
of the situation and an emergency medical transport had been arranged,
including taking the medic on all with them. By now Kyle knew that the
truck was actually a Sentinel, a robot, named Thon Roque, that he had been
attacked and that the man was called Rayan Hawk Anderson.
The place he had been taken to was an old military base
of the Sehk'mar, an alien race that had waged a cruel civil war and had
nearly destroyed itself in the process. Since the peace treaty all military
bases had been either destroyed or abandoned, and the Sentinels had chosen
one of the still functional facilities as their refuge to catch their breath.
Five hours later Kyle was about done and he was tired.
He shed his surgical clothes and simply sat down outside the OP, closing
his eyes.
"Good work, doctor."
He looked up, smiling tiredly. "Thanks, Ms. McKennan.
You weren't so bad yourself. I'm wondering why I was brought along anyway.
You and Kayla seem to have all the knowledge as well."
"True, but I never did any major operations. I can treat
wounds, but I can't fix that much damage. Same goes for Kayla. I'm more
of a cybernetics medic anyway. And the name is Jill."
"Ah." Kyle was silent for a while. "Who are these guys?
I know they call themselves Sentinels, but... what are they?"
Jill smiled and sat down beside him. "Long story. Get
yourself a coffee and I'll give you a brief version of it all."
*
And it turned out to be a very long story. Kyle felt like
keeling over. He wished someone would wake him out of this weird dream,
but it wasn't a dream. "And the one who abducted me?"
"Voodoo? He's an okay guy when you get to know him. A
bit on overdrive sometimes, but otherwise he is really nice and easy to
get along with."
"So this nice and easy guy simply kidnaps innocent medics
coming to an emergency road call?" Kyle asked, slight acid in his voice.
Voodoo had not been very kind or gentle in his ways.
He hadn't even asked Kyle, who might have said yes since there was someone
needing his help, he had just picked him up and taken along. That was what
bothered Scott the most. All his demands as to what was going on had been
answered with either silence or rather insulting remarks. Voodoo had raced
toward the Sehk'mar base and dropped Kyle off, ordering him to help the
injured Anderson. It was what had put Kyle immediately in 'attack mode',
but he had controlled himself, had glared at the giant robot and simply
let himself be led to the operating rooms.
Jill chuckled. "He knew Ray needed help and that you
were the right one for the job." Kyle sighed deeply, shaking his head.
"And now I'll show you to the guest quarters. You need sleep," Jill added.
He gave her a tired smile. "Okay."
*
Kyle didn't see much of the bed in the next hours anyway.
Rayan's condition worsened twice and he had to operate once more. When
he left the med bay another time he nearly ran into a pair of dark blue
legs. Kyle stumbled back and blinked, staring up... and up... and up...
right into the half hidden face of Voodoo.
"'scuse me," Kyle muttered and walked around the legs
in his way. He felt dead.
"How is Rayan?" Voodoo wanted to know, voice gruff.
"Okay."
"You said so before!"
"And before he was okay as well. I can't foretell complications."
"You are a medic," Voodoo pointed out.
Kyle felt a flash of anger but he squelched it. This
was no difference from facing angry and worried relatives – except that
this was a robot who he didn't have many friendly feelings for in the first
place. "I did all humanly possible for him and there is always the possibility
of complications. Rayan was severely injured and he will need extensive
recovery time."
"How many more times do you need to open him until he
is really okay?" Voodoo sneered. "Until you do it right? What are you doing?
Guessing?!"
"I'm a medic, not a fortune teller! I can't predict what
will happen!" Kyle replied, suppressing his anger.
"Well, maybe someone with a magic ball would have been
the better choice then!"
"Who was it who kidnapped me in the first place, hm?
You didn't ask, you just acted!" Kyle shot back.
Voodoo's optics flared white behind his dark visor shield.
"You want to blame me for your incompetence?!"
Kyle's anger transformed into almost rage. Still, his
voice stayed level, though the temperature dropped. "Incompetence? How
nice! Next thing you blame me because your friends were injured! Way to
go, hot head! Blame the world for everything! Okay, I'm incompetent! I
confess it!" He spread his arms wide. "Take me home and leave me my peace
then!"
He stomped off, leaving the Sentinel to himself. He didn't
know why, but Voodoo's words got to him. Kyle Scott was an excellent medic
and he had treated hundreds of complicated cases and sometimes he had to
operate a second time because of the severity of the injuries. Rayan was
no different, but he had a rather annoying friend. But why was Voodoo more
annoying than any human who had questioned Kyle's competence? There was
no answer, but Voodoo irked him, even now that he was out of his immediate
area.... he still felt the sting of his words.
Walking into his quarters, Kyle collapsed onto the bed.
He stared at the ceiling, sighing. What had he gotten into? He had simply
reacted to an accident and now he was more or less a 'guest' of a group
of giant robots and their humanoid friends. He wondered if someone would
actually miss him. He wasn't married, had had a few loose affairs lately
and since he no longer worked for a hospital, he had no appointments or
work hours to contemplate. Dr. Kyle Scott was more or less a free lance
medic, offering his research talents and knowledge to those asking for
his help and he was a renowned figure in the xenobiology department. He
had no monetary problems due to a large inheritance and several years working
his butt off as a researcher for a prominent hospital and with his 40th
birthday he had decided to turn away from set working hours and stress.
And now he was stressed out by Sentinels. What a career
move! He hadn't heard of them before their first meeting, though robotic
life forms were nothing new. He had met a few, but never a Sentinel. And
that they could transform was something new as well. He sighed. His scientific
curiosity had been ignited right from the start and he wished he had a
way to get to know them better, though getting to know Voodoo was not on
his list of favorite things to do.
Kyle yawned. First he needed to get some sleep, then
maybe a nice, long shower, and then he could think about everything else,
like for instance getting his old life back! A minute later he was asleep.
* * *
Rayan healed nicely and though he would have to go through
rehab and an extensive recovery time, he was doing fine. Thon Roque, his
robot partner, had talked to Kyle and that had been when the medic had
heard about Interfacing for the first time. From then on there was no denying
his curiosity. He pestered the Interfaces, he explored the libraries and
he found a friend in Skywolf, the Sentinel medic, who was only too happy
to have someone who wanted to know as much as he did about Interfacing.
Jill was mostly assisting, but Kyle was someone who could bury himself
deep in research and feel perfectly happy. He approached the mystery of
a organic/robot joining from his point of view and soon the two unlikely
scientists were immersed in their theories. Kayla and Jill found it highly
amusing, Thon Roque appreciated it and Rayan wondered if this joint venture
would maybe help them understand the process of Interfacing a bit better.
Still, the problems with Voodoo remained. Whenever he and Kyle met, they
clashed. Voodoo's remarks about Kyle had not gone unnoticed by the medic,
especially since he had questioned his competence again after the human
had started researching Interfacing.
"You brought me here, so live with it!" Kyle said levelly.
Voodoo growled. "I can take you back right this instant!"
"And anger your superior?"
The Sentinel bristled. "You think I'm a coward!?"
"No, just a hot head who talks first and much later remembers
to switch on his brain unit!" Kyle wanted to leave, but found himself suddenly
picked up by a large hand. Voodoo glared at him.
"How dare you little worm insult me?"
"This little worm has a name and my name is Kyle Scott!
Dr. Scott to you, turbo brain! Set me down before I kick you in the nose!"
Kyle hissed angrily. He had just had about enough of this!
Voodoo's smiled humorlessly, almost cruelly. "You can't
hurt me, little one! You aren't even an Interface and if you were, you'd
drive your partner out of his mind!"
"Then I wouldn't hurt you because you don't have a brain
to start with!" Kyle retorted.
For a moment he thought he had gone too far. Voodoo's
visible expression grew icy and dark. He simply dropped the small human
in his hand. He had been kneeling to start with, so the fall wasn't from
very high up, but Kyle still didn't land all that well. A sharp pain shot
through his ankle as he tried to catch his fall, but he only bit his lower
lip and cast the giant robot an acid look.
"That's what I meant!" he snarled and walked off, trying
not to limp.
Voodoo watched the human medic disappear. He knew he had
hurt him, but Kyle had hurt him as well with his remarks. True, he was
a racer and he loved flying fast, but he also prided himself for his intelligence
and he knew Thon Roque appreciated Voodoo's knowledge of deep space and
other worlds. Hearing Kyle attack his intelligence had hurt a lot. He turned
and stalked back to his quarters, anger burning deep inside of him, intermingling
with slight guilt that he had nearly seriously injured Dr. Scott. Why was
this one human driving him nuts all the time? His mere presence was enough
to irk him, to attack Kyle. Shrugging the Sentinel walked off toward the
exit. He needed to get out of here. Maybe he would come back and find this
unnerving human gone!
And in a way he got his wish.....
* * *
The building exploded into a bright orange fire, heat
flaring up. Voodoo was thrown into the wall and his audios were ringing.
All around him alarms went off and someone grabbed him, pulling him to
his feet.
"We need to get out of here!" Spellbinder yelled. "Come
on!"
Voodoo followed, his mind racing. How could the Seekers
have found them so easily? The next explosion let him forget that particular
puzzle. Instead he transformed and shot off through the hole in the ceiling.
He was immediately right in the middle of a fight of Sentinels against
Seekers. He didn't know how long it lasted, but it was vicious. Thon Roque
was still not completely on top and Rayan was not yet fully recovered,
but because of the Interface they still worked perfectly together. And
they were winning.
Then it happened. Somehow one of the Seekers had gotten
though their defenses and had launched missiles. They hit the main body
of their base and explosions raged through the buildings. Voodoo felt a
second of anger about the fault in the defenses, then panic hit him.
Kyle! He was still in there!
He blinked, hesitating. What the....? Why was he suddenly
so panicky about this pesky little human? Surely someone had already evacuated
the 'civilian' and he was perfectly safe somewhere.
Fire! It hurt! There were burns all over his arms
and he was surrounded by fire. He was suffocating.....
Voodoo blinked again, stumbling. What was going on?!
But he responded to the feeling of urgency, of pain and desperation. He
powered up his engines and flew into the raging inferno of the fire.
*
Kyle searched for a way out, trying to see through the
smoke and flames. He could barely make out the exit sign lit up over the
door and headed toward it. He ran, hoping he wouldn't trip on something,
but his twisted ankle was a handicap. He couldn't run as fast as normally
and the pain in his ankle increased. He could feel the flames engulfing
him, the heat searing into his lungs. Where the hell was the door? His
lungs were crying out for air. He hadn't gone more than a few feet when
the room suddenly seemed to implode. Kyle felt lifted in the air, weightless,
slamming into a wall. Everything went black, the breath knocked out of
him. For a brief moment there was complete silence. Then, with a deafening
roar, sound returned – the snapping of the fire overhead, the ominous creaking
of the building's roof and walls. Flaming pieces rained down on him. Kyle
tried to get up, but his legs slipped out from under him. He began to cough
again and collapsed.
He thought he heard something from far away.
He thought he saw something come through the flames.
He thought he felt something touch him.
And then he blacked out.
* * *
The fighting was over, the Seekers had retreated, licking
their wounds. The Sentinels looked a bit worse for wear but none had suffered
extensive damage. The base was nothing but a smoking wreck and Thon Roque
knew they would have to abandon it. It was a shame. The facilities had
been a perfect second base. Walking through the rubble he listened to the
damage report from his team, noticing that Voodoo was missing and that
Spellbinder was currently searching for him. Suddenly there was a call.
"I found him! We need medical help! Kyle's hurt!"
No...>> Rayan whispered through the link. Thon
Roque was already running toward the coordinates.
*
Voodoo knew he looked like a barbecued chicken, but he
didn't care. His skin was scorched, his paint job no more, and he would
need a prolonged stay in the recovery unit on Alean to replace the first
two layers of protective alloys, but all this was secondary. What counted
was the unconscious human in his hands. He had flown into the inferno of
the burning base, frantically searching for Kyle. Voodoo had found the
human minutes later, half-unconscious from smoke inhalation, in pain, and
barely able to walk. The ceiling had been about to go and he had simply
reacted, grabbing Kyle, closing his hands around him and curling his upper
body protectively over him. The ceiling had given in then, crashing down
on the Sentinel, injuring him in turn, but somehow they had gotten through
this hell and out.
"Put him down," Kayla now said and Voodoo followed the
order as if in a daze, the optics who were normally hidden behind shields
glowing brightly. He didn't want to surrender Kyle, he wanted him to be
safe, but a tiny voice reminded him that help came in form of Kayla.
Kayla did a quick check and then looked up, meeting the
serious optics of Thon Roque who had arrived just then. "He has extensive
burns and inhaled a lot of smoke. We have to get him to a medical unit
fast!"
And they had.
"Voodoo?"
He looked around and became aware of Thon Roque. The
giant Sentinel leader had a worried expression on his face, but there was
a smile on his lips.
"He will be okay. You should let Skywolf take a look
at your injuries."
Voodoo wanted to protest, wanted to stay here, but he
just nodded silently and walked off. Thon Roque watched him, then gazed
thoughtfully at the closed doors of Alean's med bay behind which Kyle was
resting. The young man would really be okay, as Kayla had assured him,
but it had been close.
How had Voodoo been able to find him?
How had he gotten to the human so fast?
"You think it's possible?" Ray asked softly.
Roque smiled wistfully. "Well, it would be a nice pairing."
"Kyle and Voodoo? Voodoo can't stop complaining about
Dr. Scott and I noticed more than once how Kyle battles to swallow his
replies."
"And maybe that were the first signs of an Interface,
Ray." Thon Roque walked down the corridor, Ray following him. "Did you
notice how often Voodoo hangs around our guest? It's like he has to come
up with all the insults and complaints to justify spending time with Kyle."
"You think he has realized it yet?"
"I'm not sure. He found Kyle in a flaming inferno and
got him out, unable to say how. I think he knows it subconsciously....
His protection instincts were screaming at him."
Ray frowned. "And Kyle?"
Thon Roque shrugged. "No idea."
* * *
He opened his eyes and saw white. Focusing, he realized
he was staring at a white ceiling, with a large, bright light hanging down
from a fixture overhead. The light hurt his eyes and he closed them again.
Then he heard a voice calling his name. It sounded familiar and his mind
sluggishly tried to remember more. He opened his eyes, carefully this time,
not to be blinded again -- and looked straight into a pair of dark, gold-flecked
eyes.
"Hello there, good-looking. Glad to see you're up from
your nap." Kayla smiled and there was a lot of relief accompanying the
words.
Kyle tried to talk, but found that he couldn't. Something
blocked his throat and he felt his tongue push against a plastic tube.
"Easy there, Kyle. You've got a tube in, so don't try
to talk. You've got some burns, and you took in a lot of smoke. Are you
in any pain?"
He thought about her question, slowly taking inventory
of his body. As he did, he became aware of a great deal of pain, wincing
when he tried to move. He nodded.
"Okay, I'm going to give you something. You just relax,
lie back and don't try to move that much, understood?"
He nodded again, trying to follow her orders. His memory
was still rather sketchy, but he recalled the attack, the fire, trying
to get out.... and then nothing. Well, almost nothing. There had been someone....
one of the Sentinels.... Voodoo? Had he gotten him out? Kyle forced himself
to remember more, but it was hard. When Kayla returned with the pain medication
he gestured weakly since he was unable to talk with the tube down his throat.
She frowned.
"Something wrong?"
He shook his head, gesturing at everything, then shrugging
– at least as much as the burns let him.
"Where you are? This is Alean. Voodoo got you out of
the burning base and we transferred you here immediately."
So it had been Voodoo..... Kyle stared at the ceiling
high above, noticing that the room had been built for larger life forms
-- Sentinels. The pain medication started to work and he felt himself drift
off. He didn't even try to battle the exhaustion, just slipped into the
darkness of sleep.
* * *
Three days later the tube was removed and Kyle was allowed
up. His hands and lower arms were wrapped in bandages because of the burns
and he had trouble grasping stuff. Kayla assisted him most of the time,
but he found it was a bother. And he hadn't seen Voodoo in all the time,
though he was somehow aware of the Sentinel's presence as if he was just
outside the door.
And Voodoo was just outside the door. He came by often,
just leaning against the wall, waiting, wanting to go inside and see for
himself how the human was doing, but always held back by his own hesitation.
Why should he visit the little maggot? Okay, so he had rescued him, big
deal! Voodoo would have rescued any other one as well. Still.... he was
worried, he wanted to talk to Kyle, he wanted to see him in person....
but why??
The answer came to him every time and it also shocked
him every time. Highly impossible! Absolutely impossible! He couldn't have
bonded to the pesky little human! Why hadn't he felt the initiation of
the Interface? Why hadn't they phased right away? Each and every Interface
he knew had started this way, but Skywolf had also once noted that each
was different from the other in some aspects..... Voodoo shook his head.
Impossible! But the narrow face framed by whitish-blond hair and the dark
brown eyes haunted him.
"The door's open," someone remarked and Voodoo whirled
around, facing Aurora. The female Sentinel smiled.
Voodoo shot her a dark look. "So?"
"You can go in and visit Dr. Scott."
"Why should I?"
Her smile widened. "Well, it's just a thought since you
hang around here quite often."
"I have business here!" Voodoo snapped.
"Ah."
"What 'ah'?"
Aurora shook her head, optics glistening with amusement.
"Nothing."
"If you are implying that I'm worried over that foolish
human...."
"I'm not implying anything, but I think Kyle would appreciate
your visit." With that Aurora walked off.
Voodoo snorted and grumbled to himself. Worried? Him?
About that impossible human?! Never!
The fires around him were burning his skin, the first
layer flaking off already, as he hunched over the unconscious human in
his protective hold. Somehow he was aware of Kyle's deteriorating state,
that he was unable to get enough air, that his body had received burns.
'Please, hold on,' he begged unconsciously. 'You can't
die!'
Voodoo stopped and leaned his head against the wall. It had happened. It really had. Gods.....
* * *
Kyle was bored out of his mind. He couldn't grasp things
because his hands were bandaged, he couldn't move around as he wanted because
his body protested his every move, and he was denied working on whatever
project he wanted to because he was supposed to take it easy. He heard
the door open and when he discovered who his visitor was, Kyle sighed deeply.
On top of everything that had happened to him... now this.
"Come to insult me again? Blame the fire on me?" he asked
tiredly, not in the mood for a fight against the Sentinel.
Voodoo stopped, anger crossing his features. "I can see
you are already better!" he snapped. "Whatever made me think you might
appreciate a visitor!"
Kyle blinked, hesitating. Voodoo was visiting him. Suspicion
rose inside of him. "You? Visiting me? Why?"
"I have no idea!" the Sentinel snarled. "I thought....
Gah!" He threw up his hands "I don't know what I thought and whatever it
was, it was wrong!"
Kyle's eyes narrowed and he felt something strange course
through him. It was anger, it was disappointment and something else. Worry?
Voodoo started to stomp off. Kyle slid off the bed, staggering a bit.
"Voodoo, wait!" he called, not knowing why he actually
cared what the robot felt. He hadn't been much of a likable character to
begin with and he had insulted Kyle ever since. And now he got worry and
disappointment from him?
Kyle blinked.
He... felt... it?
Voodoo actually stopped and turned, looking at the much
smaller human in the jogging pants and shirt. Kyle swallowed as he saw
the hidden optics glow slightly.
"Ah... Listen..." he made a weak gesture. "I'm sorry.
I'm just tired and frustrated. They won't let me work and I have nothing
else to do around here." He gestured half-heartedly with his bandaged hands.
Voodoo gazed at the bandages. "Your mouth seems to work
just fine," he remarked with less acid and anger than before.
Kyle shrugged, grinning a bit. "Kayla forgot to sew it
shut."
That drew a grin from the Sentinel. "I can call her if
you need her help."
"Yeah, right, you would! It's hard enough to be confined
like this!"
Voodoo fidgeted. "Maybe... you want to explore a bit?"
he asked hesitantly.
Kyle stared at him. "Is that an offer?"
"In a way." Voodoo evaded his eyes.
"What do I owe that to? Am I dying or something and nobody
told me?" Kyle tried a joke. The Sentinel winced and he regretted his words
immediately. "Sorry. I'm not in a good mood."
Voodoo stepped forward, hesitant, hands moving nervously.
Kyle met the glowing optics and felt a strange wave of .... something flow
through him. He was aware of Voodoo again, just like he had known that
the robot was close, but this time it was more intense, almost intimate.
A stray thought hit him and he shook himself. Impossible! Or was it....?
"It happened, right?" he whispered as it dawned on him.
Voodoo nodded silently.
Kyle rubbed his eyes with his bandaged hands and winced.
"How?"
"I don't know. Kyle, I'm sorry....."
The medic sighed deeply. "Not your fault." A small grin
flew over his lips. "Let's face it, hot head, you are stuck with me."
Voodoo's lips twitched into a smile. "Yeah, too bad."
Kyle fought for composure, parts of him still resisting
against the new consciousness touching his. Voodoo was trying not to intrude,
but now that both had actually realized what had happened, everything went
its natural way.
"So, how about that flight?" he asked to distract himself.
The dark blue robot smiled a bit more. "Sure. Ever flown
before?"
"Commercial flights."
Voodoo chuckled. "The boring ones."
Kyle grimaced. "Don't even think about race flying, hot
head!"
Voodoo gently picked his new friend up, careful of the
injuries. "No," he answered seriously. "I won't either endanger nor hurt
you, Kyle. We'll just take a little cruise around the country side."
Kyle gave him a critical look, then simply settled back.
Half an hour later they were flying over the Alean country side, Kyle relaxing
in the pilot seat, feeling something inside of him reach out to the Sentinel,
feeling Voodoo reach back, feeling the Interface open up....
......It had taken them a while to get used to another
and it had taken a long time to acclimate to living as an Interface partner.
He had had to say good-bye to his old life as he knew it, had moved to
Alean and he had learned a lot anew. Voodoo had in turn adopted a lot from
his partner, calming down in his ways, no longer as hot headed and easy
going. He took responsibility, he was more balanced and the partnership
turned out to be very tight, though it took them a bit longer than the
others to sort it all out and phase for the first time. Spellbinder smiled
as he thought of those days.
Suddenly the doors opened and Jill smiled at them, making
an inviting gesture. "He's fine. A bit confused still, but okay. He should
take it easy for a while."
Voodoo was past her and storming toward the treatment
room before she had finished. Spellbinder chuckled.
Kyle laboriously closed his shirt and sighed. One hand
was in a cast since he had a fractured wrist and the burns didn't make
it much easier. He was aware of Voodoo's worried presence and as he heard
him coming, he smiled, reaching out.
I'm okay, calm down>>
The Sentinel stopped outside the room and waited for
his partner to come out. Kyle smiled warmly.
"Hi." The relief he received through the link was overwhelming.
I'm fine. Just a few scratches>>
It shouldn't have happened! It wouldn't have
happened if I had picked you up!>>
Voodoo, please. No one could have foreseen a
faulty engine or whatever crashed that ship>> Kyle smiled. I'm
okay and the moment I'm rid off these bandages and can button my shirt
with dignity again, I'll be just great>>
Voodoo smiled slightly. I still wish I had picked
you up. That's what partners are for. I wasn't there for you!>>
Kyle met his optics with a serious expression. You
were, so now stop it. I want to get out of here and follow the 'doctor's
orders', which means taking it easy. Got any ideas?>>
The Sentinel grinned. "You really have to ask?"
Kyle laughed. "No, not really."