Page 45 of Redstone
“I need to be in the bathroom.” She held out her arm like she just couldn’t make it all of five feet without his help. Wisely, he took it and escorted her over to the tiny toilet, where Tamara knew they only passively surveilled in case of an emergency.
As soon as the door closed, she turned her back to him. “Look for a disc on my clothes, something small, probably transparent,” she instructed as she pulled a fresh water line out of the wall and stuck it in her mouth. She swished viciously and let the current carry the dirty water back into the piping, then swished again. “Fuck, that’s nasty.”
“You’re telling me.” Demarcos’ hands were a little tentative, but he swept his fingers methodically over her back and arms, working his way down her body. Tamara did her best not to blush as he lightened his touch over her rear, then started on her thighs. “Ah. Here.”
She turned and saw the delicate lens sitting on the end of his pinky finger. “Perfect. Now I just need access to a care portal.”
“Planning on writing up the record of your own illness?” he asked, doing his best not to sound as flustered as he looked.
“Not exactly. Look, you’ve been … very helpful, but it’s best you let me manage things from here. I promise to do my best,” she added when he looked reluctant. “I’m invested in getting Kyle out of here, I swear.”
“I shouldn’t believe you, but I don’t think I really have a choice.” His teeth were gritted as he said it.
“No, I guess not,” Tamara agreed. “Let’s get out of here.”
She was both surprised and incredibly relieved to see ZeeBee still in the room, apparently just finishing cleaning up her mess. The bot straightened and glowed at her. “Baby,” it said.
“Oh, thank you, Wyl,” she murmured. She hadn’t been sure that Wyl would make it so ZeeBee would stay with her, but apparently, the baby protocol he’d described was still in place.
“I will take good care of you.”
“What is going on here?” Demarcos asked.
“I know you will,” Tamara said, ignoring her human companion. “I need to access a care portal.”
“The closest is two-point-four meters away, in the main hall.”
“Is there anyone in the main hall right now?”
“Dr. Kleinman is approximately four meters away.”
Tamara whirled on Demarcos. “I need you to distract him. Just long enough for me to access the care portal and release the gas.” She was already removing her elaborate collar and folding it into the portable fumigant mask it doubled as. From a camera’s distance, it would be hard to tell what she was doing, but she kept her hands low anyway.
“You’re releasing the gas on this place?”
“It’s the only way I can get access to the right office. Please,” she added when he looked like he wanted to fight about it.
“You do realize how many laws you’re breaking, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And you get that they could put you away here, and you’d never see starlight again for however long you managed to survive?”
Tamara shivered but held her ground. “Yes. I know.”
Demarcos sighed. “Then I guess I can’t scare you into changing your mind. Give me a minute to work on him.”
She reached out and put her hand on his arm. “Thank you.”
“Tell me that when you get out of this thing alive,” he replied, then opened the door and raised his voice. “Hey! Haven’t you heard of liability before? I’ve never seen so many violations of—” The door shut on his impending argument, and Tamara took a moment to shut her eyes and lean into ZeeBee, still feeling a little sick and shaking with nerves.
A metal hand found her shoulder and patted. “There, there. There, there. There, there.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. They stood in silence for another minute before she asked, “Is there anyone in the main hall now?”
“No.”
“Good. Escort me to the care portal and then support me in front of it.” She made a show of stumbling a bit as she moved into the hall, walked a little way, and then sagged against the wall. ZeeBee trundled up right behind her and propped her up, and Tamara transferred the chip from her finger to the sensor of the care portal.
