Sy hissed and screwed up his face as a nurse in yellow slathered a cold cream across his palms. She ignored his protests of pain and rubbed it in.
From behind a curtain nearby Asterism could be heard complaining to someone about his ankle and Matt. Matt ignored the slander and focused his attention on the pen and paper he'd asked for. Lifting his eyes to Jim and Sy he joked, "Good thing you don't weigh more, Jim, or Sy wouldn't have any hands!"
"Sweet!" Braxton perked up at that statement. "We need some more cyborgs around here!" He winked at them as he added, "but I'll still be the coolest cyborg you'll ever meet."
Jim shrugged. "I don't know, I've met a pretty cool one before. Are you almost done with Sy?"
"Almost, Mister Hawkins." The nurse sounded very amused by his concern. "Let that sit for about ten minutes. I'll come back to wrap them."
"Thank you," Sy's quiet voice was strained with pain. He leaned back and closed his eyes. The boys were silent except for the scratching of Matt's pen.
628 tipped his head and studied the artist. He climbed up onto the back of a chair so he could see and leaned forward to inspect the drawing. Matt spun the paper around and offered it to 628. The small alien's eyes went wide.
"My matyr!"
"I met him on my way here, I guess you reminded me of him." Matt took the paper back to finish up a few details. When he was satisfied, he handed it to the experiment.
628's eyes went wide. "For me?" Matt nodded. 628 held the paper close as he softly replied, "Takka."
"Can I see?" Jim stretched his neck best he could to try and take a peek at the paper. He was of the opinion that Matt was possibly the best artist he had ever met. In some ways he felt it was a shame that Matt had chosen to go into the military and not to pursue his talents with a pen and paper.
628 turned the drawing towards Jim. The creature on the page looked remarkably like their small friend. Two large ears were held up in a curious manner. The alien in the sketch had his head tilted to the side, almost as if he were studying his viewer. The biggest differences between this one and 628 was the lack of extra limbs. The one in the drawing only had two arms instead of four.
"He looks friendly."
628 nodded. "My cousin is good. Not bad like me." his ears drooped and his shoulders slumped as he studied the paper he had been given.
"Hey." Braxton's voice caught their attention. "I thought I told you that we like bad around here." He reached over and rubbed the experiment's head. His ears flopped back and forth over Braxton's hand. "You'll fit right in. Who knows, maybe with you by our side, I won't get my nose broken again!"
The experiment gave a wide, toothy grin. "Takka." He turned his paper back to himself to admire it again.
Jim couldn't help but grin at his friend. "You're such a softy Braxton."
Braxton smirked. "A softy with a mean left hook."
Matt snorted. "If by that, you mean it's terrible, sure." He kicked back in his chair, his hands clasped behind his head and his feet up on the edge of the bed Sy sat on. "Bet our new kid could take you in a fight."
"And I beat you last time we fought, so where's that put you?" Braxton retorted. He shoved Matt's feet to send him off balance.
"Leave Sy alone, guys. We want him to stick around, not get scared off by you two."
Sy seemed surprised by that announcement. "You do?"
"Well yeah." Jim shrugged casually. "You're cool. You can stick with us. We'll get you through your first year."
"All years after that are on a subscription based payment plan."
"Shut up Matt."
"No, it's fine." Sy gave them all a small smile. "If you guys want to pay me to stick around after this year, I won't protest." The boys dissolved into laughter. The nurse shot them a disapproving frown, but said nothing about their volume. Better to be laughing than complaining, and their cheerful attitudes helped to drown out some of her more vocal patients.
A couple minutes later and she stopped by to see them. "If you'll come with me, young man, I'll get you finished up." Sy nodded and followed her across the infirmary. Jim watched him go anxiously. Matt picked up his pen and started doodling again.
"He'll be back, Jimmy." Braxton reassured him. "No one disappears in medbay."
"Wouldn't mind if you were the first though." Jim replied.
Braxton snorted. "You'd miss me too much." He stole a paper away from Matt and crumped it up then tossed it to 628. "Play catch with us. It'll keep you occupied." 628 lobbed the wad of paper towards Jim. Jim allowed himself to get caught up in the game.
Matt's pen flew across the paper as he worked on his latest sketch. The crumpled wad flew through the air as fast as it could. Their small group settled into an easy rhythm as they waited. Jim started to relax.
"I'm back guys."
Jim spun towards his returning recruit. The ball of paper bounced off the side of his head. "How are your hands feeling, Sy?" He still felt guilty that his partner had injured himself so badly because of him.
Sy shrugged. "Meds must be kicking in, I can't feel them any more. Nurse says that I have to come by tomorrow to see the doctor, but that they'll be alright for the night. I have some painkillers if I need them as well. I'm not supposed to use my hands for a while though."
"Aww, lucky!" Braxton sighed heavily. "I may have won the competition, but Sy got the true prize. An excuse to get out of his work for a while."
Sy shook his head. "I wouldn't call it a prize by any means. Thank you, though."
Jim stood up and stretched. "Let's head back to my room, guys. I've still got some cookies left. We can introduce Sy to my mom's cooking."
Braxton was instantly on his feet. Matt only a half second slower. "Sweet! More cookies. You're in for a real treat today, new kid."
Braxton held out his arm for 628. "You too, recruit. Let's go." The small alien launched himself at Braxton and latched on eagerly. It was not long before the small group were all ready to be on their way.
