Page 41 of Star Defenders (My Alien Mates 2)

I pursed my lips and nodded. "Yes, Doctor." Scanner in one hand, I kept the other near the tourniquet.

Brow creased in concentration, Mazic slid a new needle into Danec's heel, a smaller one this time. The others she discarded into a plastic dish.

"Come here, you little bastard," she muttered.

I moved the scanner around to follow the bot, while trying to avoid getting in the doctor's way. Several times, I had to switch position so she didn't end up in my lap.

"Gotcha!" she said suddenly and right beside my ear. She pulled the needle free and dropped the whole thing into the dish of blood.

"Take off the tourniquet."

I unclicked and whipped it clear as quickly as my trembling fingers could manage.

Mazic leaned back and rubbed her face. "He should be bot-free, but that won't be feasible to do to every single person they get inside."

"We'll figure out something." Zarex snapped the lip on the dish. "We should get these to engineering. They can freeze them and we can go from there."

Mazic nodded. She looked tired.

I was exhausted. I leaned down to rest my head on Danec's chest. "Now we have to wait for him to wake up," I said. To go through all of that, only to lose him, would shatter my heart into a thousand pieces.

"Yes. We can move him into the infirmary now," the doctor said. "It will be easier to monitor him there."

Zarex nodded and rose. He carried the dish to the door and tapped on it.

"We've finished the procedure, you can let us out now," he called out. The isolation room had no comms panel, but doubtless J'avet was monitoring.

That was confirmed when his voice came from the speaker in the ceiling.

"How can I be certain none of you poses a risk?" he asked.

"Because I said we don't," Zarex called out pleasantly. He tapped on the door again.

"A moment," J'avet said.

Zarex frowned. He looked back toward me and shrugged.

The minutes dragged on.

Zarex knocked on the door again. He seemed increasingly uneasy.

Finally, the door slid open. J'avet stood a couple of metres back. "You ask me to put the rest of the ship at risk," he said coldly, "at least give me time to retreat all the other personnel to the far side of the infirmary."

"Good thinking," Zarex said nicely, maybe ironically. I was too tired to tell the difference. "I come bearing nanobots. Don't talk too loudly, they're asleep."

"Your humour is as hilarious as ever," J'avet said, with no hint of mirth whatsoever.

"I thought so," Zarex agreed. "We'll need help moving the ensign into the main infirmary." He jerked his head back toward Danec.

When J'avet looked uncertain, I said, "We can use the body scanner again, if you're scared."

J'avet's eyes flashed. "Do that," he snapped.

Personally, I'd be happy if I never touched the machine again, but I nodded.

As Luuvor and the security officer moved to pick up Danec, I rose and stretched my protesting muscles. When this was over, I would sleep for a week.

I let out a soft breath. With Danec bot-free, and the nanobots off to the deep freeze, I supposed it was over. Or, it would be when he awoke.

---