Gray All Over

Chapter 2 - I Lay Tossing and Turning

Tech never truly fell asleep that day, and when Emerie returns for the night cycle again, he has already figured out his next course of action. If he cannot escape in short order, the best chance they have is information gathering, though he will have to be cautious. The chances of Emerie growing suspicious and questioning if there are other reasons for his questions are high. It will take time, and Tech has not been very good at taking the time he requires to assess situations.

That is why his family is in the state they are now.

She doesn't say her typical how are you feeling today when she comes inside. She is probably well aware that he would not appreciate the question right now. He will never forget Crosshair's screams.

She does still reach for his hand as he approaches the door and he is not quite stubborn enough to refuse to take it, considering that he can't see his way around. He loathes the way he can't see every detail around him vividly. He cannot feel it, either, the same way he used to. Not with his legs mechanical. His feet don't have feeling.

"I know it can be challenging," Emerie speaks up quietly.

"What?" he demands sharply.

"Your... eyes. I have issues with mine, too. My glasses serve a similar function that yours do."

They do? Well, at least she gets to wear hers all the time.

"I was unaware," Tech supplies.

"It has been true all my life. Nala Se said it happened in whatever mutations I had when I was developing."

That is unusual. "I had problems before as well. My former goggles were far more useful in rectifying the change than what the Empire has provided," Tech informs him bluntly, maybe a little as a pointed jab at her claim that the Empire is doing everything for their own good.

The fact that her mutations led to the same thing that Tech's did for him is strange, though.

"Why are you staying with the Empire?" Tech inquires.

"This is where I belong," Emerie answers after a momentary pause. "It is the only life there is for me."

"I never heard of you on Kamino," Tech says, testing to see how much information he can probe out of her. It is not as if he heard of Omega either, so it is little surprise, but she would not know that.

"I was sent elsewhere until Dr. Hemlock took me under his wing," Emerie replies. "He saw potential in me."

"Why are you loyal to him?"

"He gave me a purpose," Emerie answers, "He is why I am here, and more than a failed lab experiment."

"You are no more than a tool for him." She will be discarded here, too, far faster than Nala Se or any of the Kaminoans would have.

"He trusts me," Emerie argues, "I will always be of use to him."

She believes it to be true and Tech cannot understand why. Everyone here is nothing but a tool to Hemlock. How could she be oblivious enough to believe otherwise?

"Unless he finds someone more skilled to take your place," Tech points out bluntly. That's how the Empire works. She has to know that.

But she... is attached to him. Emotionally. This is not only about having a purpose, a place to be. He can see that now. And she believes that he feels the same for her. She will find out the hard way how untrue it is, he has no doubt of that.

Perhaps if she was willing to see that, she would be able to aid him in finding a way off Tantiss. But that would mean he will have to interact with her more and see if he can understand more of her relationship with Hemlock and prove to her that she means nothing to him.