XVIII
Med-deck. Later – much later.
"You're back. Wonderful."
Tyr pulls the hood of his coat down and brushes dirt off his hands before handing Trance a slim leather pouch.
"Here. Be careful with the clasp. And I could only get fifteen samples, so I hope you find what you need. I think my opportunities for dealing with these contacts is limited."
"Oh, Tyr…you didn't kill anybody, did you?"
He growls low in his chest.
"Oh Tyr."
"My methods are my own, child. What can I say. It's better if nobody knows I was ever there. Plus, these people don't like Nietzcheans."
"It's called burning your bridges…oh well, we can always send Beka."
"They don't much like women, either."
"Forget it. I'm sure that something useful will show up with these ones."
"How many non-local poisons have you tested already?"
"Nine. But they all do too much damage, or respond too slowly to antidote…" She rubs her eyes with a knuckle. "This is taking too long…"
He frowns, sheds his coat, then pulls a stool over beside her.
"Let me prepare the samples, and you do the tests."
She's touched.
"Thank you, Tyr."
"You're tired. You've been working on this for over twenty-four hours."
"It's true. I have been feeling a little –"
"Try to avoid making any calculation errors."
"Oh. Um, sure."
Tyr begins unpacking the samples, then glances over at the bed in the far corner, where the lights are dimmed to nothing.
"How is he?"
"He's…not great. He's in a lot of pain. I gave him a shot to put him to sleep, he needed a break."
Tyr's face is unreadable, but that's okay. Trance reads minds.
"Dylan will pull through. The poison idea is a good plan."
"It's our only plan."
"Well, yes, but I'm pretty sure it will work."
"You can't be certain of that."
"Yes, I can."
Tyr can't read minds, so it's impossible to know if what the purple girl says is the truth, or if she's lying to make him feel better.
Probably the latter.
Author's note: Sorry for the tardy, I've been working on another fic which has been kicking my ass. Here's a brief update and more coming soon. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews – keeps me going!