Liquid Compassion (7 page)

“Right, she is stable for a few minutes, get her out of that suit.”

Bits groaned and tapped her feet until the suit opened. She had never tried it lying down before, but strong arms lifted her out of the suit and put her on a nearby med table.

“Abitika, my name is Reset. This is going to hurt, but you are going to be in much better condition when I finish with the healing.”

She nodded and looked up at the woman. “Do what you have to. I will hold my talent in.”

“Will it be that dangerous?”

“I might share the pain. I don’t think you would like that.”

Bits lay still and the fire took over.

An hour later, Turnari helped her sit up. To her surprise, her curves were back and she didn’t feel shaky anymore.

“I think this suit is a little too tight.” The fabric was stretched snugly across her breasts and appeared to be flirting with the idea of going translucent.

Reset looked tired, but she grinned. “I have a few outfits coming from the quartermaster for you. You were lucky they brought you here. Your organs were shutting down. Effin might have been able to get to you in time, but I am glad they brought you here.”

A Kozue appeared at the door with a stack of fabric in his hands. “Here you go.”

“Thanks, Mist. I think Abitika needs some privacy.”

Turnari remained with her, and to her embarrassment, he helped her get into a replacement bodysuit.

“I have seen all your medical scans, and I am your fiancé. We will soon have few secrets.” He pulled out a deep lavender suit that had a long skirt built in.

She chuckled and pulled the suit on, sealing it over her breasts before turning to the left and right. Bits still felt weak, but she felt like herself again after more than two years.

Turnari cleared his throat. “Well, the suit fits. Mist has a good eye for sizes.”

“What exactly did Reset do?” She ran her hands over her backside.

“She put you back to your genetically healthy settings. She reads DNA and resets the patient to those settings.” Turnari nodded though his dark gaze seemed to have difficulty leaving her new curves.

“Where did she gain the extra mass?”

“She used nutrient drips and saline packs.”

“I don’t remember that.”

Turnari walked up to her and wrapped her in his arms. “I would be surprised if you did. It looked painful.”

“Oh, it was. It isn’t a memory I wanted, but it is now a memory I can use. I can make it into something that I can weaponize.” She smiled against his chest.

The last aches and pains faded while in his arms and he held her in the middle of the med lab.

Turnari gave her a squeeze. “One meal and then we are back on our way to Morganti.”

“Good. I promised the girls that I would try and visit. I mean they knew that I left, but I want to spend a bit of time with them when we get back.”

“You really enjoy children?” There was a peculiar hitch to his tone.

“Yes. I babysat for the local kids a lot when I was in school. If my sister hadn’t wanted Hesko, he probably would have proposed to me, and we would have had a kid by now. As it was, everything changed.”

“Did you love Hesko?”

“Of course not, but he was a good man, handsome and steady. I would have finished the first apprenticeship I was in, and as a journeyman, we would have been on equal footing.”

“So, you would not have married for love?” His tone was chiding her for her previous statements.

“I would have chosen compatibility. When you can manipulate emotion, it doesn’t mean as much as feeling a genuine comradeship.” She looked up at him. “Like I feel with you.”

His smile disappeared as they kissed.

Her stomach rumbled, and he grinned against her lips. “I think we should get that meal and get on our way.”

She wrinkled her nose and nodded. “I can eat.”

They left the med bay, and Reset met them in the hall. She led them to the dining area where Bits was set loose on the buffet.

The armour did actually adjust to her when she crawled back into it, and their trip to Morganti was engaged in in relative comfort.

Bits looked to Seer and inclined her head. “Thank you for your detour.”

He shrugged. “It was what presented itself in my sight. I simply paid attention.”

Order chuckled and stroked her partner’s arm. “He is good at things like that.”

Bits leaned against Turnari and slept. She wasn’t exhausted; she was just tired.

Her mind blended with Turnari’s as she dropped in and out of sleep. He was always there and waiting with warm thoughts and hope for the future.

The tiny bodies thudded against her as she walked across the tarmac. Mala was feeding her third daughter and Radin was next to her.

“Bits! You look great.”

“Apparently, I over did it, so they had to haul me to Teklan. You were right, the suit stretches.”

Mala grinned. “I am glad that it worked for you. I have made some alterations to the spray mechanism. I can boost the range and the droplet dispersal. All I need is a few days to get it worked out with your help.”

Bits felt Turnari loom behind her. “It will be up to Administrator Turnari, but I don’t think that it will be a problem.”

He put his hand on her shoulder and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Whatever makes you more effective on assignment, Bits.”

Mabi and Isala looked at Turnari with small scowls. “Why is he kissing you?”

Bits smiled. “He is my fiancé. That means he is my mate-to-be.”

The girls let go of her hands and scurried a few feet away. When they came back, Isala put her hands on her hips. “Will you have babies?”

Turnari nodded, “If we are lucky.”

“Can we play with them?” Mabi expressed her concern.

Bits sighed. “If I have children and if they get old enough to run around on their own, you can play with them.”

Turnari’s mind was vibrating with amusement.

Their collected group made their way into the base where Bits finally got the baseline scan that would give them a place to start any medical procedures.

She had come all this way, and now, she knew where she had to start from. It was a huge step forward that involved going back into her DNA.

Her own bed at the Citadel felt glorious. Kalo had kidnapped Turnari to go through all of the details that had come up while they were gone.

She lay back on the bed and tried to think of nothing. The shielded walls kept her mind from seeking out anyone randomly, but she focused and found Turnari. He was moving through the Citadel, and he was surprised at her contact.

A few moments later, there was a knock on her door. She opened it and blinked at Turnari and the bouquet of flowers in his arms.

“I forgot all about those.”

He grinned. “Kalo took fanatical care of them.”

She took them in one arm and pulled him down for a kiss using one of his horns.

When she released him, he said, “Those aren’t handles, you know?”

“Say that when we are in bed and I want you in a certain place but am moaning too much to tell you where.”

His eyes lit with a bright glow. “Fair enough; for you, they are handles.”

She winked and invited him in.

He walked inside and took a seat on her bed. “How am I to know that what I feel for you is genuine affection and not a side effect of your talent?”

She set the flowers down on the table and walked to her bed, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Do you remember what you felt when you first saw me?”

He nodded. “I do.”

“Can you track a slow and steady change in emotion over time?”

He grinned and trailed his claw-tipped fingers across her cheek. “I can.”

“My talent is sudden and all consuming. It would take you over, and you would know what you feel but not why.”

“Why did compassion work during the riot?”

“Compassion is felt by everyone who isn’t a psychopath. Making them into folk with more concern for their community makes them stronger in some ways. It won’t hurt if it dissipates. Something else will take its place. If I had forced you to have affection for me, you would feel a sudden, wrenching change.”

“I don’t feel that.”

She pressed her forehead to his. “I know. It is the same on this side.”

“Good. When would you like to do the debriefing?”

Bits moved her hand to the closure of her suit. “How about now? You record and I will do all the talking.”

He reached out and put his hand over hers. “Not yet. I still have a courtship to arrange. Flowers aren’t enough for a woman like you.”

Bits wrinkled her nose. “I might not ever have the nerve to try seducing you again.”

“I will take that chance.” He kissed her with a desperate longing that she gained from his lips and mind.

It was another start by going backward, and Bits really hoped that it wasn’t a trend.

Good-natured calm could only take her so far.

I wrote
Liquid Compassion
with a cold. I have been sniffling and wheezing through it.

I hoped you enjoyed it even if the subject matter was a little weird.

Thanks for reading,

Viola Grace

http://www.violagrace.com

Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.

An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.