“What is it, doctor?”
“Her vitals are improving. Keep an eye on her tonight –
if she wakes, I want to know. Before the Admiral does.”
I am awake this time, Taz tried to say. Don’t go. Please.
Tell me what happened.
The voices faded away, and she was alone again.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
This time, Taz managed to get her eyes halfway open.
“Good evening, Lieutenant.”
It was a different voice, a voice that sounded familiar to
her but too close, like she was used to hearing it through a
radio or a newsfeed. It was so deep, so low it seemed to
resonate in her bones.
“I hope you don’t mind that I added a stimulant or two to
your IV – it was imperative that I talk to you, and your
lovely doctor is reluctant to see the importance of that.”
She struggled to see, every millimetre she raised her
eyelids a battle. Lights exploded in her vision, and when
they faded, everything around her was metallic, a buffed
silver sheen. She closed her eyes again. A flash of spinning
silver -
“You’ve had a difficult few days, Lieutenant. The
doctors weren’t sure if you were going to make it,” the
voice seemed to smile. “But I’ve been told that you’re a
fighter. Certainly anyone who came out of that cave on
Qo’noS alive would have to be.”
A cave – a reddish glow -
“Broken ribs, a skull fracture, multiple lacerations...”
Taz seemed to feel each injury afresh as the voice reeled
them off like a laundry list. So she’d been fighting –
fighting robots. Well, that was nothing new. “You’re lucky