Page 65 of Ruin

Chapter 21

The medbay was a large, sterile space, dominated by fivestim-pods—cellular repair beds—lined up in the middle of the room. Top of the line models, too, from the looks of them. One was occupied, but the person in it wasn’t who drew her attention. On the far side, behind the beds, stood a male Quicksilk.

With what appeared to be full-sized, fully functional wings.

She’d never seen a fully winged male. He was incredibly tall, standing at what had to be over seven feet. Like Beep, he had four arthropod wings, transparent and intricately veined. A set of antenna topped his head, and another set extended from his back, beneath his wings, long enough to drag the floor if he let them.

He was alien, his facial features only vaguely humanoid, but still handsome for all that.

Those big, black eyes scanned the guys, lingered on their injuries, focused on her for a moment, then caught on Beep.

She didn’t have a lot of experience with Quicksilks, but she knew they didn’t have the same capacity for facial expressions as humans. Even so, the male’s surprise at seeing the bot was still obvious. To her, anyway.

His antennae twitched as he approached, movements fluid and graceful in the way all digitigrades seemed to have. Up close, Lira could see the iridescent sheen to his white and black metallic skin and chitinous plating.

“Ruin, Hush. I see you’ve both been shot, per usual.” He ignored Hush’s indignant scoff and Ruin’s low grumble, and held out a long-fingered, claw-tipped hand to her.

She took it with a smile, warmed and heartened that, so far, everyone had treated her with kindness and not at all like a slave.

“I am named Helix. May I know your name?”

“I’m Lira. It’s nice to meet you, Helix. You’re very shiny.”

His large, multifaceted eyes glinted a pale pink and his antennae fluttered. “I’m flattered you think so. You’re very short.”

“Thank you?” she replied.

It was a strange compliment, but sounded genuine. Maybe being that tall was just as difficult as being short.

He tilted his head and glanced at Beep again. “May I ask where you found a cV-81 mech? I haven't seen one in years.”

“This is Beep.” She smiled over at it. “I found it on Skeldra.”

“An’ repaired it herself,” Ruin added. “In the dark, with no tools besides what she could scavenge.”

Her cheeks heated, but Ruin looked so proud of her she couldn’t bring herself to argue that it wasn’t all that impressive.

Helix’s wings twitched and his antennae stood up straight. “Remarkable. Are you an engineer, Lira?”

“I… I actually don’t know.”

Ruin slid a hand down the length of her hair. “The Mogovian who was holding her captive wiped her memories seven years ago.”

“I see. Dead now, I hope?”

“Very,” Ruin assured.

“Most excellent. Well. If you would like, Lira, I can try to restore those memories.”

Her heart kicked hard against her chest. “W-what?” Lira stared at Helix in shock. “You… you can restore my memories? I thought they were erased permanently.”

He dipped his head in a nod. “In most cases, yes, I can. Memory-wipes cannot actually erase the memories, they just suppress them, making them inaccessible to the conscious mind. With the right techniques, those buried memories can often be unearthed and reintegrated.”

She swallowed hard, pulse thundering in her ears. The possibility of reclaiming her lost past, of finally knowing who she really was… it was overwhelming. Exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure.

Reaching out for Ruin blindly, she gripped his hand, letting his touch steady her. “You really think you can get them back?”

“I’ll know more from the scans, but I believe so, yes.”

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