Aftermath
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The three of them made their way slowly back to their room. Sharon’s leg was badly mangled, and she had to lean on Richard. Amy skipped and jumped as they went, making her cape flutter and whirl with her movements.
They stumbled into the room, and Richard helped Sharon to her bed roll. Some of Amy’s figures were deployed across the pillow. Sharon didn’t care enough to move them as she sprawled out, trying to situate her broken limb. Amy looked on with a hint of annoyance at the disruption, before resuming her efforts in another part of the battlefield.
Richard collapsed onto his bed roll, and pulled off his helmet. “Legs feel weird. That thing broke my spine again,” he complained. “The bypass isn’t working right.”
There was a rap at the door, and Sharon groaned. Amy ran over and opened the door. “Huh. They left us some stuff,” she said, dropping a small pile of food pouches and sundry items on the floor by their sleeping spots.
“I wonder if it is to say thanks, or to try to appease us,” mused Richard.
“Why choose?” Sharon replied. She covered her eyes, trying to block out the light from the drone as it hovered like a lost puppy at her side.
“Why didn’t you have that thing carry us back?” asked Richard.
Sharon groaned again. She sang a weary command, and it returned to its page in the book.
“You could have asked me too,” chirped Amy without looking up from her task of placing ranks of figures on the floor near the wall.
Sharon resisted the urge to say something unkind, and instead focused on the crawling sensations in her leg. Richard had burst the accumulator pouch near her hip, and she felt it working to tie the displaced tissue into some semblance of order.
Richard rolled over, “Amy, any guess how long it will take to get to the tumor now?”
Olivia considered for a moment. “They were pretty shot up at the end,” she said. “And the cruiser is fused to the hull in several places. Add another week.”
“Should we help them cut it off?” Sharon asked.
“You think they would throw it away?” Richard sounded incredulous. “Do you know how many mouths the resources on board that cruiser would feed? The survivors will be rich.”