47
“How you feeling, Sister in Steel?” Rev asked. Ten didn’t have her legs, so Rev tapped his social arm on the edge of her hospital bed.
“I feel fine. They’re just keeping me here for observation. Making sure there’s no reaction from getting zebrafished.”
“Was that like getting augmented?” Tomiko asked.
“No. Just a couple of injections.”
“And then what? What’s the process?” Rev asked.
Rev wasn’t about to go through regen himself, but since it could eventually be on his horizon, he was curious.
“Well, you know this was only the first step, getting the zebrafish DNA CRISPRed into mine, right?”
Rev knew the process in theory. Snippets of zebrafish—the Danio rerio—DNA would be spliced into Ten’s DNA, which would create the capability for regeneration. Once that had taken, her cells would be induced to start the actual process, growing new hips and down to her toes.
He just didn’t know how that all played out.
“Well, I got the injections this morning. If everything is cool, I’ll get discharged tomorrow, and then I have to wait six weeks until the next check.”
“Six weeks? That long?” Tomiko asked.
“That’s how long it takes. And if the results are good, they’ll hook me up to start the inducement process. Two weeks in bed.”
“Here at Tall Pines? You could do worse if you’re stuck in bed.”
“Maybe not. The naval hospital at Anastasia might be rebuilt by then.”
“Hope not. I mean, this place is beautiful. And who would have thought you’d come back here?” Tomiko said.
Rev agreed with her. Tall Pines Resort was where they’d all gotten their initial augments more than six years before. Then, it was to maintain secrecy. Now, with the naval hospital at Anastasia destroyed during the Centaur invasion, the resort was being used for long-term rehab and for people scheduled for regen. Without the large numbers of Navy and Marine recruits crowding the place, it had much more of the resort feel that it must have enjoyed before the war.
It was peaceful, and Rev was glad Tomiko suggested they make the trip and see Ten. The Raiders had only been released from isolation on Tuesday, and it was good to get both off Nguyen and out of the still heavily damaged Swansea, even if just for the day.
“After that, I guess it will be about two years in a chair and healing chambers. But when it’s all done, I’ll be dancing the night away again.”
“Hell, I never saw you dance before,” Tomiko said.
“I can learn. You don’t know what you miss until it’s gone. Rev knows.”
Rev nodded, but he didn’t feel the same way. He didn’t feel like he was missing something. He should, but he still had suspicions that he was being manipulated. If he resented Pashu, that could affect how effective he’d be in combat, so maybe he was being subtly nudged away from regret that he’d lost his arm. The thought had been simmering in the back of his mind for quite some time, but it was one he couldn’t voice, not if his suspicions that Punch served double duty somehow by keeping tabs on his mental health.
But for now, he didn’t have to make any decision. Convicts were not being released yet, but when the surprise order came out offering regen for wounded warriors, Rev’s name was not on the list of authorized personnel. But Ten’s name had been, and she’d jumped at the chance.
Then again, her position was different. Rev was still fully combat capable. Ten was not. With the loss of most of her pelvis, her prosthesis offered her only limited mobility, and she’d been stuck with administrative duties.
“You’re going to be a great dancer, Ten. And I want the first dance,” Rev said.
“You flirting with me, big bad Rev? I thought you only had eyes for someone else,” she said with a laugh.
Rev immediately regretted his joke. He could see Tomiko blush. He wasn’t sure why everyone seemed to assume that the two of them were a thing. They were brother-and-sister-in-arms. Anything more could be a liability in the trenches.
“Me? You know I’m a Casanova, always playing the field. Just promise me the dance, or I shall be crushed,” he quickly said with a dramatic flair and what he hoped was an old-time Italian accent. Anything to make this all a joke.
Ten giggled and held out her hand, “Why, good sir, my heart is a-flutter. I would be honored.”
Rev went to a knee and kissed her hand. He avoided Tomiko’s eyes.
“So, what about you two? How long are you visiting?”
“We’re taking the Navy bus back down at fifteen hundred. So, we’ve still got a few hours.”
“I do have a favor to ask,” Ten said, suddenly acting shy.
“Anything,” Rev said.
“Not to you, to Miko.”
“What do you want me to do?” Tomiko asked.
Ten reached over the bed and grabbed the pack on the floor beside it. She pulled out a little container that looked to be full of ribbons, ties, and clips.
“My hair is getting shaggy.”
“I was going to mention that, Ten. Looking like a civilian, there,” Rev said.
Most Marines kept their head shaved or their hair buzzed short. Ten had always kept her pale blonde hair bordering on the regulation limits, but now, it was quite a bit past that.
“Who’s going to hassle a wounded warrior like me?” she said with a sly grin. “But Miko, since it is getting a little long, can you braid it for me? I would love to see it all done up.”
Tomiko looked over at Rev, a wicked grin on her face. Rev understood immediately and nodded.
“I’ll be happy to, Ten. But first, you’ve got to do one thing.”
“What’s that?” she asked suspiciously.
“Tell us what you did to get a Class 2.”
Rev and Tomiko had discussed that on the bus ride up to the resort. Ten had never given up what crime she had committed, and for six years, it had been gnawing at the rest of the posse.
But Ten frowned, pulling back away from the two of them.
“Come on, Ten. We won’t tell anyone else,” Tomiko said. She picked up the pack of hair stays and shook it. “Look, baby blue. Perfect match. These will look pretty in your hair! Baby blue, baby blue.”
Ten gave each of them a soul-searching look, then said, “OK, if you really must. But really. Don’t tell anyone else.” Her demeanor changed, and she suddenly shifted from the defensive to almost a co-conspirator. Her voice dropped to barely over a whisper. “I almost beat a guy to death.”
Rev had been leaning in to hear, but now he jumped back in surprise. He knew she’d done something serious, but he hadn’t expected quiet, reserved Ten to have done something violent.
“No shit?” Tomiko asked. “You beat someone up? But wait. Getting in a fight shouldn’t be a Class 2. Cricket was conscripted for fighting, and he got a Class 7.”
Ten gave a satisfied-looking smile. “I wasn’t fighting. This asshole did something he shouldn’t have done. I went home after, but the more I thought about it, the more I refused to be victimized. So, I got myself a baseball bat, went back to his home. The bastard was asleep. So, I beat the shit out of him. I left the bat there, went home, and called the ambulance.
“To be honest, I didn’t know if he was alive or not, and I didn’t care. But I guess ‘premeditation’ jumps up the charge.”
Rev and Tomiko were speechless. Both had seen violence and death as Marines, but this was so unexpected.
Ten pointed at the hair stays. “OK, I told you. How about doing my hair now?”
“Woah! Sure thing, sister. Let me scoot behind you,” Tomiko said.
Ten leaned forward and Tomiko got onto the bed. She pulled out a brush from the pack and started brushing, and a look of utter contentment spread across Ten’s face.
Rev didn’t know what to do, so he just sat down on one of the plush chairs in the room. He watched as the two started talking, first about how Ten wanted her braids, then about a wide range of topics, some that made Rev decidedly uncomfortable. With a reserved, conservative mother and the only other female he’d lived with a child, none of these topics were things he’d dealt with before.
What was almost surreal, however, was that it was as if five minutes before, Ten hadn’t just told them about beating a guy senseless with a bat.
Good training for being a Marine, I guess.
It was pretty obvious that Rev was surplus for the moment. The walk in the resort’s garden he and Tomiko had planned to make before boarding the bus for the return didn’t look like it was going to be happening.
He settled deeper into the chair. “What do we have up?”
<Episode Three, Season Two, of “The Sundowners.”>
“Sounds good to me. Play it.”