MINE

Chapter Nineteen

Borgina had picked the term up from Nathan back on Earth. He said it to everyone who needed to pick his brain on anything, no matter how little. When she noticed he didn't like saying it to people in return, she used it as a way to taunt him.

"Borgina isn't a genius."

He said it in a way that made the 'nt' of 'isn't' sound so low that it was almost not there. His goal was to deceive Borgina into thinking he actually said 'Borgina is a genius', but she knew him too well to fall for that trick.

"Great then. Borgina isn't a genius, just like Nathan is going to dope for the rest of his life." She grinned.

"Come on..." He protested.

"It's not that hard to say the words." She replied.

"Fine. Borgina is a genius." He finally said, hanging his head low in defeat. To Borgina, it was the cutest sight.

"That wasn't so difficult." She replied, laughing.

She knew it crushed every ounce of pride he had in him to say the words. She enjoyed pushing his buttons like that from time to time.

"There's a store of synthetic material not so far away. It's about a ten minute walk from here. All you need to do is break in and get some. You can cut a piece of foam from underneath your bed to act as the absorbent material. I'd help you with the process of making it look like your skin. The risk is getting to the store and back without running out of Oxygen."

"How thick is this skin going to be to prevent the needle from actually piercing me?" He asked.

He imagined himself in synthetic skin thick enough to accommodate the length of a needle. There was no way he wouldn't look like an inflated balloon. Even the dumbest person will know it's impossible to stack up weight in less than a day, especially with the food rationing on MoonEx. 

"About four millimeters." She replied. "The shots are administered with a six millimeter needle and Nurse Reese inserts about half the length before pushing the liquid into your system. We're working with a thickness of four millimeters just in case she decides to push it deeper at any time."

Now that she said it that way, it actually sounded plausible. There was no way he was going to be caught dead in a bloated synthetic skin. That was sure to tip off the security personnel, earning him a one way ticket to the vast expanse of space.

"That sounds like it will work." He replied. "Are there any security concerns I need to worry about at the store?"

"Not really. Just stay out of sight of the soldiers patrolling the area. The store itself is usually empty during lights out. That would be the best time to break in." She replied.

"Okay. I'd work towards breaking in tomorrow." He replied.

When evening came, Nathan's door opened and a female robot walked in. He was shocked to see it wasn't Nurse Reese and wondered why someone else was administering the shot today.

"Hi. I'm Nurse Cindy. I'd be administering your shot this evening." The robot stated.

"What happened to Nurse Reese?" Nathan couldn't help asking.

"She suffered a software malfunction earlier today and had to be replaced." Nurse Cindy replied.

Nathan didn't expect to be sad at the news but he was. He had gotten used to Nurse Reese and felt like she was his personal nurse. Who was to say Nurse Cindy wouldn't pierce the entire six millimeters of the needle into his skin? It was the worst possible time for Nurse Reese to be replaced.

There was no further communication between Nurse Cindy and Nathan for the duration of the session. She administered the shot and walked out. She didn't even bother to help him to the bed like Nurse Reese normally did and as weird as it was, her insensitivity made Nathan miss Nurse Reese even more.