Page 21 of Dark Space
The short corridor outside the cell led into a bedroom. The Roth walked too quickly for me to see much, but I still took inthe monstrously large bed, covered in a forest-green blanket that looked suspiciously like the one on my cot. When he carried me through the sliding glass door and into the ship proper, I tried to take in more – anything that might help me eventually get free – but there wasn’t much to see, just endless hallways of silver and white. I wondered if he was deliberately taking me through empty corridors until I realised that the lights were dimmed, and it was probably the middle of the night.
‘Were you asleep?’ I said softly.
He didn’t answer, though he did glance down. He’d braided his hair back from his face, and the stretch of his cheekbones was gloriously, strikingly harsh. His jaw tightened, and I must have looked even worse than I felt, because he quickened his pace through the white hallways until we reached a glass door.
The Roth growled, and it slid open.
He carried me into a room that held some cupboards, an examination bed, and a wide screen that took up most of one wall. There was nothing else in the room itself, though when I tilted my chin up, I could see that there were a number of fixtures in the ceiling that looked a lot like lights.
He settled me down on the bed.
The door slid open again, and an unfamiliar Roth entered. He was a foot or so shorter than Tall, Dark, and Looming, though he looked to have the same hard muscle, and I wondered if that was just how the species was made. His horns curled back in spirals, and his hair was a salt-and-pepper grey. He stopped short when he saw me; his mouth dropped open.
He spoke in a series of growls to my Roth, who snarled back. Eventually – after a lot of gesturing – they seemed to come to an agreement of some kind; the older Roth – the medic, I assumed – gave me what might have passed for a smile, then did something to the screen to make it light up. At the same time, theroom went dark, and light streamed down from the ceiling above me in a series of sweeping lines, as if I was being scanned.
When a picture of my body appeared on the screen, I realised that wasexactlywhat was happening. My Roth tapped on the tiny screen on his wrist and said something into it; when I saw a smaller image of the same picture of me, I realised that he was either downloading or streaming the information elsewhere.
‘I just need painkillers,’ I said weakly. ‘That’s all.’
The doctor gestured to my abdomen on the image.
‘Yes, that’s it,’ I babbled, wincing as pain bloomed again. ‘Adenomyosis. Though I don’t know why I’m expecting you to know what it is; I’m fairly sure that half the doctors on Earth don’t believe it exists.’
My Roth tapped his wrist again, growling.
‘Anna?’ Vesper’s voice came through a moment later.
‘Vesper?’
‘The fleshbag has tapped into the camera circuit so I can translate. They don’t have anything they can give you straight away. Roth pain responses are very different to your nervous system, and the black-haired one said they use a practice similar to one on Earth – something to do with needles in the skin? – to manage pain. But you don’t seem to have the same points to target, so they can’t do that for you.’ He paused. ‘The medic is going to try to manufacture a painkiller, but it might take him a day or so.’
‘That’s okay,’ I said tremulously. ‘I’ll just go back to sleep. Can I come back now?’
My Roth growled; the medic answered with a lighter snarl.
‘The medic wants to check your other vital signs,’ Vesper said. ‘He’s –don’t you dare leave her, fleshbag!’
I looked at my black-haired Roth, alarmed. ‘He’s leaving?’
‘The medic is insisting. He’s saying that there’s nothing to worry about.’ Vesper paused, sounding as if there was alottoworry about. ‘The medic outranks him, lodestar. He has to leave.But go and get the Prince, you horned fool. Get the being who outranks the medic.’
My Roth gave me an apologetic look and patted me awkwardly on the shoulder. I hated myself for it, but I clutched at his arm. ‘Please don’t go,’ I whispered.
He looked stricken, his strong features crumpling with worry. He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear with a gentle hand, his eyes scanning my face, then disentangled himself from my grasp. He turned, and clearly had a thought; he removed the screen from his wrist and gave it to me.
‘Vess-perr,’ he hissed, and tapped the screen.
‘Vesper,’ I repeated. I held the screen up to my cheek. ‘Vesper?’
‘I can hear you, brightness. That’s all I can do, but I can hear you.’
I took a deep breath. ‘Okay.’
Tall, Dark, and Looming gave me one last searching look, his brow creased into a frown, then left the room.
My mouth went dry and I swallowed.
The medic smiled again, then placed his hand on his chest and made a thudding motion with his fist, mimicking a heartbeat.
