Eye of the Ocean Book 3 Ji'jin Station

Eye of the Ocean – Book 3: Ji’Jin Station
again, but this time inside the cradle of his arms. Old blocker patches flaked off
his wrists, littering her fur. She purred as he absently stroked her, relying on
touch to find the spots she liked. Head back on the pillow, he stared at the white
beams of the ceiling, the underside of the thatch like coarse brass colored fabric
stretched between. Rain, a slow heavy rain, made a plocking against the thick
layer of straw.
With a sense of relief, he felt the medic scan run over him, breaking the Net
silence. Alicia followed it by moments, and sat on the bathrobe at the end of his
bed. In uniform and fully armed. Above the bruise on one cheek, her eye was
bloodshot and swollen. She kept blinking. “I thought you'd call when you woke
up.”
“I wasn't sure I had.”
She smiled gently and reached to stroke Tika then brushed white flakes from
the soft gray and cream fur. “You've got a fair amount of sedative blocker in you.
Silassic said you'd be disorientated when you came to.”
“So you asked how you could tell the difference?”
The smile became a grin. “He doesn't have much of a sense of humor, or I
would have.”
Silassic did have a sense of humor. Rit felt icy cat feet run up his spine and
shivered. Kori, Peecit, Silassic. Gennady and Simitta. His memories of them were
changed: not simply glimpses, he understood them. A cold spot in his chest
swelled, he hiccupped his next breath. This change felt permanent, not that
transient now-he-was-Zimmer, now he wasn’t.
“And Ulanda?” he asked. “How is she?”
Watching him, Alicia's grin had faded. “She woke up about an hour ago. Rit, it
came to nothing again. The ti'Linn, those whose ranking members died, we got a
few, I've got them separated for now until Kori...” She rubbed her forehead. “I
interpreted your order as I thought the circumstances warranted. If you want
differently, try staying awake to say so. We definitely weren't their first choice for
refuge, anyway. Also, we lost a few staff. It's probably just as well we did.
Everybody's confused. Eunni's been talking all morning and most of the night,
keeping things from getting out of hand.”
“And outside here?”
“There's been no reprisals against the ti'Linn, no real disturbances of any
kind.” A grin attempted to settle out on her face but failed. “The local Freeborn
Council is howling, Station brass officially backing them for a change... not Rilla's
level, this is still local to Downside, and I think it's all noise to keep their own
people happy. And we still don't know what happened with you and Ulanda. You
both responded favorably to blocker, so Silassic used it. Is it starting all over
again?”
Laurel Hickey www.2morrow.bc.ca