Page 94 of Alliance
"Roz," he panted. A panicked whine constricted his throat. "Roz!"
When he found her form, he fell over himself like a man at sea. There was no way. This couldn't be real. She wasn't—She couldn't—
The other man's hand stopped him from touching her, and he snapped at it ineffectually.
"Don't touch her, she's still coursing," the man warned in a smooth tone.
"But she's..." He whined again. "She's alive. She'smine."He grabbed the man's knee for strength, pleading with his gods, his other hand smashed against his ear as if to dampen a noise. "No, no, no." A horrible moan of loss rose in the yiwren's throat as Vindilus and Sizzle trotted to a halt. Vin had his hand cannons trained on both bogs, a murderous set to his mandibles.
"Yes," Roav admitted, holding the yiwren up by his hackles so he would not fall on her. "She is human."
Jharim's facial facets stirred with skeptical aggravation, and he turned away, dusting himself off. He leaned his shoulders against the tree and held his hands up where Vin could see them.
"She ismorethan human," Roav continued, unsure if the man at his feet could hear him. "If you permit me, I can resuscitate her."
Jharim's stare locked on his. "Donotallow that doll to awake."
"Shut it," Vin snapped as Sizzle loomed over the biognostic's shoulder with a hungry lap of his tongue. "You're onthinfuckin' ice."
"Please!" The buck reached for her, but Roav yanked him back. He snarled, sinking his claws into the bog's forearm, all the way through his casing to the wires. The yiwren's fur stood on end with static; the protective shock of Roav's dermal mesh triggered. It couldn’t have been comfortable, but the man was violently desperate. "Let me thefuckgo, you fucking—"
"If you want him to save yourthuais,you let him work," Jharim interjected, unintimidated by Sizzle's breath on his shoulder. "Roav is an expeditionary maintenance unit, tactical evolution strain. He built himself for acute response."
Roav regarded his partner. "You are... helping."
Jharim vented air from his neck in a quick huff that softened the set of his shoulders. "It is important to you."
"Enough of the lovey dovey!" Vin yelled. "You're gonna get that girl on her feet, Roav, or I'm gonna pop an EMP round in both of your skull casings, ya dig? She's theonlyreason you're not dead already."
Roav nodded once, his tone level. "Understood."
Satisfied that Jharim was under Sizzle's watchful eye, Vin hauled the yiwren back by the scruff, and Roav knelt beside the burnt shell of the woman who defied his logic core. Under normal circumstances, he'd have said she was beyond repair.
Luckily for her, he knew where to get spare parts.
35
When I awoke, it wasn't with a system reboot but a sigh. My existence felt... simpler somehow. My lungs pumped, and I felt their rhythm. My tongue was dry, plastered to the roof of my mouth. I swallowed on instinct, but nothing filled my salivary glands.
Then my eyes moved, and I knew they were shut. Well lubricated, they didn't feel like anything at all, but I knew they were there from the twitch of my eyelids. And there was a sound. Maybe a sound from before I woke up, but I knew it was there. Many sounds.
"She is alert," a smooth voice announced. My eyes slid open, and I found myself staring up at a biognostic with black facets and such a quiet data halo that he must have vantaplates hidden beneath his casing.
A shilpakaar with long teal tendrils and black eyes swam into view. His tendrils were scarred lime green, the marks marring his cheek and neck, despite the professionally calm smile he wore.
"Hello, Roz. Can you hear me?"
I tried to nod but couldn't move. The option simply wasn't there. I tried speaking, but that required movement as well. No warnings popped up in my mind, however, despite how much I tried. Finally, I resorted to quantum speech, the biognostic's gaze trained on the light in my eye as it blinked.
Yes, but I can't speak.
"Yes, she can," he translated.
"Can you recall what I just asked you?"
Can you hear me?
"Good." The shilpakaar's smile warmed up a little. "My name is Ezraji Zarabi, Renata's medical delegate. This is Roav."
