Samira
“Oh, hey captain. Welcome back.” I waved at her, but she just frowned at me in what looked like confusion.
“Samira, she's been dead for weeks, and all you have to say to her is welcome back?” Ithnaa chastised me, which I thought was completely unfair. Thankfully, the captain came to my defense.
“It’s fine, Ithnaa. Samira and I already spoke shortly after I summoned Thea. Besides, I seem to remember you very specifically refusing to welcome me back.” She smiled at the sheepish djinn, and I joined in the shaming by sticking my tongue out at her. “Although I am curious about what Samira is covered in.”
That was definitely a sobering question, but thankfully, Ithnaa answered for us. “We had to dig through the remains of a mechanic’s garage in order to find the venom. Thankfully, it was far enough from the city center that it didn’t take a direct hit during the bombardment. Otherwise, there would have been nothing left to search.”
“Then, The Garden…?” Sora was asking about the brothel they used to work at, and I nodded grimly.
“Yeah, it’s gone.”
“Did you check for radiation?” the captain asked. “Nearly half of EVI scorched earth procedures call for anti-personnel ordinance. Most of which are radioactive.”
“We did, and while there was some, Samira assured me that the levels were low enough as to not be dangerous.”
“Modern radiation weapons are only really deadly in the first few hours. After that, I wouldn’t suggest living in an impact zone, but walking around the edge of one is safe enough.”
The captain closed her eyes and let out a tired breath. “Well, regardless, being covered in radioactive dirt probably isn’t great. Both of you go take a shower, then use one of the scanners in medical to make sure you’re clear.”
I was about to argue, but stopped when Sora shook their head. “Sami, now’s not the time. The captain was New Eden’s executive for longer than either of us have been alive. Trust her on this.”
I hesitated, not wanting to say out loud what I felt like I needed to ask. Thankfully, Sora knew me well enough that I didn’t have to. “What if we gave Bryce the cure now? That way, Sami can go put my tools away before she showers and we won’t have to wait as long to start going over everything.”
“What? Softie, that doesn’t–”
“Okay,” I interrupted Thea before she could point out that Sora’s plan would both increase the likelihood of spreading radioactive material, and also probably not save any time. “Let’s do that quickly, and then we can go take a shower using the spare rooms downstairs. If there really is something wrong, then it’ll be easier to isolate any contaminants that way.”
The captain agreed with a gentle smile, so Sora moved over to the coffee table to set their tools down and pulled out a small vial filled with a sickly yellow liquid. “Sora, please tell me this isn’t going to taste as bad as the last antidote you gave me.”
“When did they have to give you an antidote?” Thea asked, and I was actually the one to answer.
“An agent stabbed the captain during the raid on Rajak’s compound. Sora gave her an antidote just to be safe.”
“How do you remember that? You weren’t there.”
“Sami watches all of our adventures live through my feed. Well, all the adventures that she’s not actively participating in,” Sora answered Thea’s question for me, before handing the vial to the captain. “And, sorry, so long as I’m right about what Mother gave you, it’s going to taste a lot worse. With that being said, if it doesn’t taste awful, then you need to tell me right away.”
“Because that would mean you just poisoned me with an incredibly lethal toxin? Yeah, I get it.” The captain chuckled, but Sora shook their head.
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“Considering that I’m standing within arm’s reach of Thea right now? Absolutely not. For the sake of my health, I have to argue that you’re now fully aware of the risks and if something happens, then I’m not at all responsible.”
“Fair enough.” She was still smiling all the way up until she emptied the vial into her mouth. She actually managed to not throw up, which was more than I could say for the first time I had to do it. In my defense, though, I had just been a kid at the time. “Dear gods, that was the cure?”
“Well, technically, that was the poison. You already had the cure. So, I was right, then?” Sora grinned at her, and when she glared back, the grin only grew wider. “Good. Give it like five or ten minutes and you should be fine to let Thea climb all over you again.”
“I feel like I should thank you, but I’m having a hard time not hating you right now.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m planning on using this to extort Thea into letting me choose dinner for the next couple of weeks. Plus, I recorded you drinking the venom, and the look on your face is payment enough.”
“Yeah, I definitely hate you.”
“No, you don’t,” Sora said before placing the empty vial back in the case and closing the lid. “Alright, Sami, it’s all yours. Now, both of you go take a shower and if there’s anything on the scanner in medical, tell us right away, okay?”
“Alright, I’ll be back when I’m clean.” I took the case and headed down to engineering to hide it.
~~~~~
“Samira, could you clarify something for me?” Ithnaa asked from where she was sitting on one of the beds in medical waiting to be scanned.
“Sure, what’s up?” I continued to configure the palm-sized scanner to work with djinn biology while I waited for her question. It hadn’t taken us long to shower, but everyone was still upstairs waiting on us.
“I don’t understand why you were so reluctant to leave Sora’s interrogation tools with them while we cleaned up. Surely, you didn’t expect them to use them on Bryce or Thea?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then why worry yourself over it? And in the same vein, you must know that since Sora is the navigator, you can’t hide anything from them on this ship. Not while they’re attuned to it. If you really wanted to keep their tools hidden from them, then you could always ask me to move them to someplace that is inaccessible to everyone but myself.”
“But then they would have to ask you to get them.” I stopped messing with the scanner to finally glance up at Ithnaa, who, surprisingly, just seemed concerned. “Look, I know it doesn’t make sense, but the whole point of me having the tools isn’t to keep them from Sora. Hells, if they wanted to hurt someone, they definitely don’t need a bunch of potions or rusty pliers to do it.”
“Then why bother with the charade at all?”
“Because Sora hates who Mother made them, and whenever they use those tools, they become that person again. So, when they asked me to keep them hidden, I took that seriously, and you haven’t seen that side of them. Which means, you can’t possibly know what’s at stake.”
“Okay, I understand.” She nodded, and I felt strangely relieved.
“Good.” I went back to configuring the scanner to avoid looking her in the eyes. “And thank you for understanding, or at least pretending like you do.” Ithnaa didn’t say anything, so I finished the configuration in silence. Only to look back up and see her smiling at me. “What?”
“Nothing. I was just admiring how much you care for Sora. I didn’t have that while I was growing up, so seeing it with you two is… refreshing, I suppose.”
“I, uh, don’t know how to respond to that.” I might have frozen up a little, which just made her smile widen. “So, anyway, don’t move. Otherwise, I could miss something.”
I didn’t wait for a response before slowly waving the scanner about a half-meter from her. A few minutes later and I had the results. “Alright, you’re clear. There’s trace amounts of gamma radiation, but not enough to be concerned. Actually, wait.”
I spun around and opened one of the cabinets. We hadn’t restocked our medical supplies since Anali’s crew stole half of them, and they definitely didn’t return them all, but we still had the basics. Which included a few general purpose anti-radiation pills. They were there mostly in case of a reactor leak or something, but since they were designed to work by bolstering your nanites instead of any sort of chemical reaction, I figured it wouldn’t hurt for us to take a few just in case. “Here, take two now, and then another two before you go to bed. Just remember, I’m definitely not a doctor, so if you start to feel sick or something, then let me know and we’ll figure it out together.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.” Ithnaa took the pills and popped two of them in her mouth dry before lowering herself off the bed. “Ready to head back up? I’m beginning to fear that we may have already taken too long. Bryce looked exhausted, and I doubt Sora was able to keep Thea from dragging her to bed.”
“Sure, one second.” The med-lab had a sink built into the counter, but there weren’t any sort of cups nearby. So, I placed two of the pills in my mouth before drinking directly from the faucet to wash them down. “Alright, all good. Hey, if the captain is already asleep, do you think we could watch the movie, anyway? I mean, it’s still pretty early, right?”
Ithnaa laughed as she led the way out of the med-lab. “I don’t see why not, but we’ll have to run it by Sora first. Maybe pick a different movie, too? I know Thea was really looking forward to seeing Time Bushido 8, and I don’t think she’d be happy if we watched it without her.”