Je suis un chat

[Redtricks]

She awoke on a table with most of her hair aside from the ones with keepsakes unbraided. She was also half-naked under a charming little quilt blanket she'd found in Old Athen, drooling on it. Sometimes, Sandra wished she'd rather be drooling on ginger hair on a supple strong frame than her own hair and a quilt.

She reached out for a mug of coffee, knowing where it was and that it was cold, but she needed the jolt. Tepid, cold coffee passed her esophagus and gave her a shudder and minute nausea -- and clarity. Yes, she was mostly awake. The first evidence of that fact was that she managed to already get her mind in turmoil by seeing a particularly nice flash of light from the lab equipment. Sometimes she thought it was morse code, sometimes it was like a shining beacon.

Sandra slapped herself automatically to dispel that effect -- damn you, Omni-Med --, but being only mostly awake she also managed to fall off the table, onto a chair and end up as a bundle on the floor next to metal shavings, covered by the quilt and staring at the ceiling with a look of childlike astonishment.

And then she fell asleep again. And awoke. Five minutes later, to the sound of the her comlink. Someone had activated their comms, and she just couldn't find the energy to say hello. Smiling, that she could do. But even that came out tiredly.

The fact was -- she was weary. Weary. Lonely, always lonely, just wanting a few moments to live her life, socialise, be there in a non-professional capacity. The hum of the machinery was beginning to irritate her, which in turn confused her as she loved her tiny corner of the laboratory. But when had she last had managed to make love in a Garden with a with a ginger-haired, supple-bodied... total stranger to others than herself? Aside from treating her sister's wounds, broken bones and destroyed implant, when had she managed to sit down and cuddle with her? Or Jenae? Or Tower, or Kate, or Wayne or...

Sandra began to go through her mental checklist, smiling at the ceiling and closing her eyes, testing her pulse, breathing evenly before calculating within her mind her amount of sleep over the past months. When she finally opened her eyes with a hint of wonder and considered the laboratory, took in the instruments and cases. Finally, the tiny Opifex sat up half-naked and thought on the workload put on her due to recent crises and calculated further in her head.

"Nineteen hours a day on average?"

The empty laboratory didn't respond, but Sembly did -- in her neural net. "Only so much?"

After a startled gasp and a giggle, Sandra flopped back on the table in the middle of the metal shavings. "Oui, Sembly. Only so much. Let us leave it at that." And, to her surprise, the AI did go quiet. She then had another thought. "Sembly?"

"I hear you."

"Do you keep footage of me when I waltz around half-naked and singing when everyone else is asleep?"

"Yes."

"Could you delete them?"

"No."

Sandra already saw another problem in her immediate future and social life, but after a moment of thought, she began to laugh at the absurdity of the situation and placed her hands against her lips, catching more metal shavings into her hair.

[Redtricks]

She'd never seen this side of this Kirklin. Worried so much. At times Sandra wondered if that frigid shell of a man cared more than he did for most people -- aside from his family -- for this particular specimen than for her or other members. It was a very nice feeling, altogether, seeing as the man was usually so glacial around her and others, but for Sandra, this was something far, far more serious. This...

She.

Was her sister.

Sandra had no idea what had happened to her system, but the moment she saw Fya in that state, she began to work automatically. Postulating. Thinking. Relying on her research into Viking before practically kicking Cordell Kirklin out of the lab. Strangely, he complied with a hint of confusion.

She made a note of that, unclasping armour, checking vitals, putting in IVs and generally doing things a doctor should not do to a patient otherwise normal. For one, she had researched Viking. Two, this was a family member to her. More than a little. Thirdly, she had no proper cure -- unless one counted basic supplies.

Oh, that man had told her quite a bit, much of it useful, but she was the medic. The doctor. And so she worked frantically, applying sensors, applying solutions, making a mess in her panic. Eventually, an hour later, she came to the conclusion that Fya was at least stable. Strong and healthy, just... momentarily... indisposed?

She watched on, less tired than usual. But tired enough that after a few hours she unclasped much of her armour and climbed on the bed, covering her adopted sister with braids of many ilk and snuggling for warmth. "Live on, Blackbird." She took one more look at the woman who was not much taller but  so much stronger and closed her eyes. And she prayed, pulling the quilt around them.

[Hilfy]

= Analyzing. =

= Event: Logs. EMP. Targeted. Our signal. =

= Daneel: Emergency shielded. =

= Daneel : Stable. =

= Fya? Viking? =

= Report. =

= Report. =

= Report. Please. Report...=

= Anyone? =

= Hello? =

:: Viking: Systems stabilized. Reactivating. ::

_ Fya: Host systems functional. _


Fya fluttered her eyes open. Whole body still humming with pain as Viking's systems sluggishly reactivated restoring full motor control. She rolled over and looked at the mess of colored braids sleeping next to her, a bio-scanner still clutched in one hand. Sandra. Sister. She must have been frantic last night.

Fya quietly slipped off the medi bed unhooking IVs and trying not to wake the small doctor. She walked to the desk for pen and paper. "Coffee. Swimming." She wrote on the note for Sandra before heading out to the city's lagoon.


:: Annoyed. ::

_ Yes. _

:: We're killing that cybernetic bitch. ::

= Agreed. =

_Agreed._