Page 81 of Sky Song
“I can gut and dress him in no time for dinner.”
“Lyle!”
He sighed. “I’ll put him back into the cupboard before the sperm sack returns from work. Don’t be saying I’m not nice to your neighbors.”
Chapter 11
The security at the hospital received an upgrade overnight. Arriving for her shift, Cricket tried to enter the hospital building and couldn’t - her access was now restricted exactly to the hours she was expected to work. She wouldn't be smuggling Lyle to the lab again - too risky. And it was a relief. She shuddered, remembering their nerve-wracking rendezvous at the lab.
But mainly, she wasn’t all the way convinced that the hospital had dark secrets to hide. If Lyle thought so, it was because that paranoid ass Simon saw boogeymen in every corner. She got it, he was scarred for life, but c’mon now. This wasn’t her native Earth teeming with unsavory characters of every stripe. It was Meeus, where any hint of criminality or even unethical behavior was nipped in the bud.
And Cricket trusted Dr. Ragberg with his principled, professional approach to life. Dr. Ragberg, with high integrity and unshakable morals, dedicated to the art of saving lives. Dr. Ragberg, who stood a lot to lose if even a whiff of impropriety emanated from his examination room.
Once it unlocked, Cricket went through the door with the others, many unhappy with the new procedures and grumbling out loud.
Terrance was one of the many, and he voiced his opposition loudly. “Why is this necessary? People have to waitby the door like strays. Now everyone’s going to start coming in late. How’s that helpful to anyone?”
Unable to argue Terrance’s unexpected display of logic, Cricket steered him out of the elevator and to the lab. “As long as you aren’t late, you have nothing to worry about, Terrance.” In her desire to sound like a team lead, she began to sound like her mother.
“I have nothing to worry about already, Emma.”
She sighed. He was right. It was her guilty consciousness projecting.
Salty arrived shortly after without so much as a hello, and raked Cricket over with a nasty look. Cricket smiled warmly in response and wiggled her fingers in a handwave, causing Salty’s face to get droopier and her mood even more sour. “We have to wait like cattle to be let into the doors, and our team lead is smiling! All that power must’ve gone into your head.”
“Not power, Salty. It’s just that not everyone is locked up in a cage of emotional repression.”
Salty stuck her nose up in the air. “Don’t think I’ll put up with your bullying,” she sneered. “Team lead, what a joke. When can I finally retire and not see this place every day?”
“You’re going to retire?” Terrance piped in. “When?”
“It was a rhetorical question!” Salty got genuinely upset.
“But youarekind of old. Isn’t it time?”
“I’m not old! Besides, the way my pension’s set up, I have at least seven more years to go.”
“Seven years!” Terrance stared into space, contemplating the progression of time. “That’s so long. I’ll be almost as old as you in seven years.”
The door to the supply room opened with a quiet whistle, startling Cricket. Terrance and Salty stopped talking and looked up.
Yanet emerged, deftly blocking the view into the supply room until the savage hinges pulled the door shut with a malevolent hiss. A hint of bluish light flashed briefly.
“Wow, what’s that blue light?” Terrance tried to look behind Yanet’s body, but the door was already closed and the light disappeared.
“Oh, that.” She cleared her throat once. “It’s the UV light. You know, sanitation.” Her eyes darted to the wall cabinet and skittered away.
She raised one unsteady hand to push away a lock of hair that fell against her forehead. Her other hand was gripping the tablet tightly. Cricket’s eyes narrowed on Yanet’s disturbed hairdo and twin brackets of strain that framed her mouth.
“I can help you in the supply room,” she volunteered on a whim.
Yanet jerked but quickly recovered. “No, that’s okay. In fact, it is I who is here to help you with the samples.” Surreptitiously, Yanet moved away from the door as if to distract everyone’s attention from it, and turned to Cricket. “What do you want me to do?”
“You can catch us up on the reports. I’ll show you the program.”
“Sure. Let me just… use the restroom real quick.” Yanet dashed out of the door. The other door, the one they all used.
Pensive, Cricket went to the screen and logged in ahead of Yanet’s return. It was all very weird.
