“And we’ll need to start researching methods to add increased security to the floppy network,” Marae says. The rest of the Shippers break away from the group, a buzz of activity already drowning out the sounds of the churning engine behind me.
Marae touches my elbow and draws me aside. I can still see the bright white words on the floppy, mocking me.
“What are you going to do, Elder?” she asks.
I meet her eyes. “I really don’t know.”
6 AMY
THIS WI–COM IS SUPPOSED TO CONNECT ME TO THE SHIP, BUT all it does is make me feel even more disconnected from my past. But… I do need it, like Doc said. Because I’m not safe here.
My hand clenches around my wrist. The bruises are long gone, but other hands once held my wrists, forcing me down to the ground…
I release my hand and suck in a huge breath of air. I won’t let myself think of that. I can’t let myself think of that.
Instead, I look at the wi-com. I imagine the braided wires slithering apart, sliding under my skin, burrowing through my flesh. I’m wearing something that was once inside someone else. It’s like wearing a tooth on a necklace or making earrings from toenails. It’s even worse that it came from Orion. I want nothing more than to rip this thing that was once his off my wrist and destroy it… but something stops me.
At least, with the wi-com, I can reach Elder. In the past few weeks, I’ve seen him less and less — and I get it, really I do, I know he’s busy. But… I can’t help but smile. It will be nice to be able to talk to him.
I push the button on the wi-com and say Elder’s name. I raise it to my ear, waiting to hear his voice. Beep! “Com link denied,” a pleasant female computer voice says.
Well, it would be nice to talk to Elder. If he’d actually answer my com.