Sanctuary (Jezebel's Ladder Book 3) (20 page)

“Why all the sheep jokes?” asked
Mercy.

“The guys tease Toby about his
undergraduate paper on animal husbandry—genetically modified goats to be
specific. He can’t tell us the specifics for security reasons, but I think he
helped develop those goats that produce spider silk in their milk.”

“Ew.”

“That sounds a bit on the Frankenstein
side, but Toby is extraordinarily gifted at laboratory bioscience. Now what
happened with Lou?”

“Toby likes insects better than
girls, but our pilot doesn’t like anybody but himself. Lou might consider
giving me a poke if he can show his buddies naked pictures of me . . . and I
don’t lose any important parts.”

“Oh. He told you about Yuki.
Sensitivity isn’t why women go out with him. Maybe you could try again in a
better setting.”

“Like what? Taping his mouth shut
with one of the zero-g strips?” Mercy complained as she stormed inside.

Toby cocked his head as he listened.
Whatever her flaws, the woman is a genius. That will be much better than
duct tape and opens up whole new avenues to explore.

Mercy took blood and vitals from Auckland as she complained
to Yvette. “Men are useless idiots. I’ve been avoiding the lot of them.”

“Hey,” the doctor protested. “
I’m
a man.”

“You don’t count,” explained his
nurse. “You’re getting married in a couple weeks. Pratibha’s going to cut yours
off and put it into her purse for safekeeping.”

Pouting, Auckland said, “I could
still be a threat until then.”

Shaking her head, Mercy said, “No.
Even if you tried to ravage me, you’d have to stop to take a nap halfway
through.”

“That’s not funny,” the doctor
complained.

“Maybe if we strapped an oxygen mask
on you,” Mercy teased.

“No,” Yvette reasoned. “You could
just turn on a soccer game, and he’d get distracted.”

After the doctor growled, his nurse
patted him on the head. “Relax. We know you’re safe. You’re in love with a
beautiful, intelligent, slightly delusional woman.”

“Watch it,” he warned.

“You know she’ll snap out of it in
a few weeks, but by then you’ll have her firmly in your clutches,” Yvette said.

“Yeah,” he said wistfully. “As long
as you don’t inform her of my nefarious plan.”

Mercy said, “Sadly, we’re bound by patient-confidentiality
rules and can’t warn her.”

“Keep it that way, and open the
curtain on the side of the longhouse. Sonrisa gave me one of the first windows
they built out of native sand. It’s a little bubbly and not exactly uniform,
but I can finally see light.”

Blowing a raspberry, Mercy said, “I’m
sick of rainbows and fluffy, white clouds. I’ll be so glad tomorrow when we
have a real sun again—not that I’ll get to enjoy it because Yvette and I are
heading up to the tin can as soon as we’re clear.”

Auckland’s eyes widened at the
uncharacteristic outburst.

“You’re better off with the
curtains drawn,” Mercy insisted. “It’s getting freaking colder every day. My
feet freeze at night.”

“I was afraid of that,” mumbled the
doctor.

“What?” Mercy demanded.

He glanced at his nurse. “Is it
about that time of the month for the rest of you, too?”

Wincing at the indelicacy, Yvette
slowly said, “Yes.”

Mercy responded, “No way. My cycles
are super regular—twenty-eight days. I have another five before—”

Yvette shook her head no. “When you
joined our little sisterhood, your period synchronized with ours. Yours may be
a little shorter now. Sorry.”

“There are a number of options.
Oleander runs to prevent hers. Nadia and Yuki had endometrial ablation—neither
will have a period again, but they also won’t ever have children. Risa is
taking a drug that prevents menses, but one of the side effects is increased
body hair.”

“No meds. It’s too dangerous with
my talent. I can’t even take most pain pills.”

Auckland shrugged. “Just use a
tampon from your APK.”

“You expected me to use
my
weight allowance to bring a twenty-year supply of tampons?” Mercy roared. She
didn’t even realize she had picked Auckland up by the lapels to shake him until
Yvette was peeling her fingers off the poor man. “Sorry.”

“I’ll show you how to use a
silicone insert. It’s kind of like a balloon. I’ll find the template in the
storage area,” Yvette said, leaving the room.

“How soon till we can make our own
normal pads and tampons?” Mercy asked.

“From cotton? That’s scheduled
around the two-year mark,” Auckland noted, backing slowly toward the door.
“Microweaving was Toby’s project. Maybe he’d raise the priority if you asked him
. . . nicely.”

The fear in his face amused Mercy. Without
Yvette present, she could speak frankly. “Are you trying to get me to give Toby
another chance?”

“Maybe. In a few more days. Would
that be so bad? It’s part of our charter to give people a second chance if they
confess wrongdoing and work for the common good.”

Had she judged him too harshly? “I
don’t know.”

“You only had one date. I heard
about the insect incident and explained that he shouldn’t do that in front of
other people.”

“I’m not good at flirting to get
what I want.”

“Just wear a pair of Yvette’s
shorts,” he suggested. “Toby will fall all over himself to help.”

“Ew.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I can’t get a read
on him,” Mercy said. “I can feel things from everyone else with the Collective
page when I’m within five meters. He’s like a lump of cold stone.”

“Not everyone has the same reaction
to a page, just like not everyone will like a certain type of music. On
average, women are twice as receptive to aural impressions as men. It all depends
on your gifts and personality,” said Auckland. “We’re careful because extreme
mismatches can cause cognitive dissonance, which can lead to a trip to Ward 8.”

“Toby can’t detect other Actives,
even if he shakes your hand. What good is that?”

“He can tell who a person is,
including their talent, just by examining their cells under a microscope. That’s
how
his
sense manifests. I can detect symptoms of Fortune syndrome just
by being in the same room. I also pick up anomalies in the Collective by touch.”

“Why couldn’t you spot Z’s problem?”
asked Mercy.

“It wasn’t a sickness; rather, his
symptoms were a normal reaction, like grief or being shell-shocked by an
explosion. Look, Toby may not like to run the ball, but he’s a hell of goalie,”
Auckland insisted.

“In English?”

Auckland replied, “Brazil wasn’t the first time your family was threatened. Someone mailed a bio-package to
Mary. Red sent Toby in with the response team. He isolated everywhere the
package had leaked in her apartment, identified the lab strain of the
contagion, and helped track it back to the sender with some sort of bacterial
fingerprinting technique.”

“He did that for my family?”

“He did that for
Red
. She
saved his life and his career. When he’s your goalie, girl, nothing gets by. He’s
a bloody pit bull.”

“Right. So as long as you’re
telling me all the man-secrets, what’s Lou’s problem?”

“Other than having the emotional
maturity of a three-year-old?”

“Yeah.”

“If Lou were in charge of the team,
Toby never would’ve qualified. Our esteemed biologist didn’t cross-train in
anything, and he never finished his green belt because he was too worried about
protecting his hands. He refused sword training as well, but Z signed a waiver
for him.”

Mercy shrugged. “I could see that
as a doctor.”

“I had the same issue, but I took Savate
instead. I can kick the ball in from midfield without using my hands.”

“So Lou picks on him to make him
fight back?”

“To prove that he can’t.”

“Sounds like a bully.”

“If you admit your faults and make
an effort, Lou’s a pretty reasonable guy. He hates people who refuse to try.”

“I’ll stop by Toby’s office when I
get a chance,” Mercy said with a sigh. “I won’t manufacture a reason. I’m going
to be pretty busy with the planning committee getting ready for Tau Ceti. We’re
choosing to linger there longer than it takes to reorient for the new jump so
we can warm our biosphere back up. The large debris disk near planet E will
make asteroids a constant threat, but we owe it to Earth to find out as much
about it as possible. It’s the most Earthlike planet this close.”

Auckland was intrigued. “Could we
land there with
Ascension
?”

“Although we could find somewhere
in the right temperature range, we wouldn’t want to. The planet is about twice Earth’s
diameter, with about four times the gravity.
Ascension
wouldn’t have
enough fuel to leave. We might send one of our probes down, but Z wants to save
those for later. We’ll see what the telescope shows on our flyby.” Walking to
the door, Mercy said, “Thanks for the talk, doc. Three weeks left till the
wedding. Are you nervous?”

“I’d use that stasis chamber myself
if I could and have Yvette thaw me for the ceremony. I’m tired of waiting. I
want to wake up and have it be Christmas.”

Mercy left wearing a smile.

****

Auckland warned Toby to expect a contrived
visit from Mercy to give him his second-chance date. A few days into his ground
shift, Toby heard a knock on his office door. The camp had doors now! “Come
in,” he called, rustling through the papers on his desk.

Mercy limped inside, announcing, “We
finally caught the culprit.”

Toby slipped his hand to the handle
of his belt knife. “Pardon?” She was supposed to be in the command module with
the wicked witch. The girl even had her hair done the same way as Yvette—the
two braids that held her hair captive were tied loosely at the back in a bow. A
single tug and it would all cascade down. They were all taunting him with what
he couldn’t have.

She plopped onto the patient chair
and said, “I was rummaging around in Olympus. Snowflake’s log showed me what
you’d been doing with the windows. Brilliant. I never would’ve caught on.”

He clenched the handle of his belt
knife as she propped her right leg up on the makeshift, crate-topped desk.
Could he do it? That depended on how much she knew. He fished for information.
“Did you find the technique useful?”

“Yes. I watched the compound from Olympus and spotted what we’ve all missed till now.”

He eased the blade out to his side,
trying to appear casual. “Which is?”

“Lizards,” she said triumphantly.
The absurdity of the statement caused him to falter until she asked, “Why do
you have that knife out?”

He almost passed out from panic
until he noticed the blood on her pant leg. “I . . . wanted to cut away the
fabric so I could get a better look at your wound.”

“It’s not that deep. I just wanted
to get a little peroxide.”

“Nonsense. Lizards can carry
salmonella and a host of other diseases. You’ll need a couple of injections and
maybe some stitches. I’ll need a good look.”

Mercy was barefoot, rather than wearing
the heavy regulation boots. The sight of her petite ankle and arch made his
heart beat faster. Frowning, she said, “Please, don’t cut these. I only have
two pair.”

“You could make them into shorts .
. . or you could just take them off.” He could see her weighing the options.
“One doctor seeing your bare leg versus the entire camp. You choose.”

Making sure the door was barred,
she slipped out of her pants, gasping in pain as she slid them over the tender
injury.

He eyed her from the knees
down—exquisite, like porcelain. He could see the crescent of teeth marks above
her hamstring. “Any lower and you might have lost the ability to walk. Sit on the
desk, and tell me about your brush with the wild while I fetch some gloves.”

“I saw the lizards moving in the
long grass around camp,” she explained. Her sharp intake of breath as he
applied the antiseptic reminded him of the sounds of passion. “I zoomed in on
them with the windows like you did. They were heading for our bird coops, a
whole tribe of enormous iguanas.”

“Why didn’t we see them before?” he
asked to distract her from the pain.

“Because it got cold in here so
soon, the lizards went into hibernation or estivation. Oh!” She made another
coo as the needle thrust into her. Slowly pushing the plunger was almost
sensual.

His voice cracked a little as he
said, “And the moment the Tau Ceti sun warmed us again, they came out hungrier
than ever.”

“Yep. So I ran down to the chicken
yard.”

“Without even changing shoes. Why
not simply tell Herk?”

“I did, but there were so many. They
were coming after Strut, so I had to protect him.”

As he applied the gauze, he asked,
“You took on a pack of predators bare-handed?”

“I had my spear, and they mainly
eat the eggs.”

“Rachael will be pleased to know
you’ve solved her problem.” The ecologist had been worrying about predators in
the food chain equation for months. “Now get some rest while that leg heals. I
want you to stay off your feet till the shutters close tonight.” He handed her
an electronic reader pad.

Mercy was easily distracted, becoming
quickly absorbed in a novel as she waited. She rubbed her feet idly to improve
the circulation.

The feet weren’t as nice as Yvette’s,
but he still had to bite the side of his thumb to avoid reacting. The
adrenaline rushes and the success of his deception made him feel more alive
than ever before. After drinking in her fit legs down to the swell of her
behind for several long moments, Toby had to leave. The temptation was too
much.

That evening, Mercy tracked Toby
down in the mess hall, where he was experimenting with coffee analogues. After
a sip, he proclaimed, “The chicory isn’t bad, the rest has heavy alkaloids.
Ugh. It smelled decent.”

Fully dressed, Mercy said meekly,
“Thank you. I wonder if I could impose on you again, this time with regards to materials-manufacturing
priority.”

“Sit. Don’t open my work back up.
Elevate that leg,” he said, fussing over her. “I can guess what you’re going to
ask already.”

She arched an eyebrow. “I don’t
think you can.”

“A crude prosthetic arm
can
be printed out of vegetable plastic if I bump the queue priorities.”

Mercy blinked. “For Yuki?”

“Of course. I knew you’d ask me at
your first opportunity. But a more advanced arm—one that she’ll be happy
with—will take years. First, Sojiro will need to generate the specifications.”

“Why him?”

“He has two synthetic fingers and
carries the manufacturing guide for the entire Fortune medical-replacement
catalog.”

“I never realized. They look so—”

“Real? That’s the idea, and what
you should want for your friend. After we take extensive measurements and
gather photographs of her original, before and after, he can design the
replacement. Then Sonrisa gets involved to build the frame. Nadia will also need
to supply some nanobatteries. Once that’s all completed, I can show you how to
grow the synthetic skin grafts so it looks natural.”