Page 13 of Stealing Mercury
“Better than five minutes ago.” Resler was half sitting on the med-bed that had adjusted to something between standing and sitting to make it easier for him to climb on. With a grunt of effort, Drake lifted Resler’s legs onto the bed and pushed the man back into a seated position. Resler was too out of it to help. Drake had to shove the man’s hips to get him properly positioned in the bed.
“What did you give him?”
“A standard blocker. Nothing that will interfere with anything we have to do to treat the leg.”
There was disapproval in his eyes. He probably figured she’d leave him suffering given the choice, and maybe he was right. “I was more worried about mixing a pain killer with the liquor in his system.”
Samantha pressed the med-bed control to get the man lying flat, then reached for the sensor array mounted above the bed.
“I should look at that cheek.” Drake reached for her, but she turned to block him.
“Really, I’m fine.” She forced a tight grin onto her face and tossed a look over her shoulder. “Can you take the other side?”
Drake moved around the bed, then helped her pull the array down and over Resler’s legs.
Resler lurched up and grabbed Drake’s hand, stilling his progress. “You make sure it gets done right. That bitch will leave me crippled if you leave it up to her.” There was drool at the corner of his mouth, negating the effect of the threatening tone.
Drake nodded and moved Resler’s hand back to the bed.
Samantha pressed a sensor to his neck. “Lucky for you, this is a pretty sophisticated med-bay for such a small ship. The equipment will do most of the work.”
Drake pulled the mender out of its clearly labeled slot in the low ceiling above the med-bed, then positioned it over Resler’s leg. Samantha could tell by the chime it made that there was a problem.
Drake studied the mender’s interface screen, then looked up. “Have to reposition the bones first.” He said the words under his breath. If he’d waited on the painkiller, they could’ve done a general anesthetic.
Samantha didn’t have much sympathy for Resler, but cruelty was beyond her. “We could give him a scrubber to counter the painkiller and the liquor.”
Drake shook his head. “He’ll pass out when we get started.”
Together, they followed the mender’s guidance to realign the cracked bone. Drake turned out to be right. The first time he put tension on Resler’s leg, pulling it out straight, the brute went under.
Samantha looked across the mender to this pragmatic and efficient Drake and wondered where this side of him had come from. “You’ve done this sort of thing before.”
“So have you.” He answered with no bravado, no swagger.
After the craziness of the last hour, Samantha struggled to adjust. “Basic medical is part of my training.”
“That’s right.” Drake nodded. “As pilot, you’re responsible for the lives of everyone on board.” He recalled her words with no venom or rancor in his voice. His eyes were on the screen. Without his perpetually sly look to harden his features, he seemed almost handsome.
It was a rare moment when she could genuinely say she didn’t mind talking to him and she needed to smooth things over. It only made sense to make conversation. “So, where have you done this sort of thing before?”
He spoke without looking up. “I was born in the Mitna Refugee Camp on Denver3.”
“That’s attached to a mining colony, right?”
He made an mmm of agreement. “What medical care we had access to came at a high price—a debt to the Directorate—and that meant a stint in the mines.”
“So how did you end up with Roma?”
“I hopped freighters for a while. Working in trade for transport and board. Landed on Roma and never looked back.”
His gaze lifted.
“If you focus on your job and get us where we’re going without any more of this shit—” He waved a hand at Resler’s mending leg. “Owens will compensate you well and you might even get a hand-up. The man has a lot of allies.”
Not friends, Samantha thought. He hadn’t said Owens had friends. But then she’d lost her friends in an instant, so maybe she was the fool. “If I try to explain what happened, we’re only going to argue.”
“Probably.”
