A Break in the Sunlight

15. Borrowing Time

"Look up, please? Good. Now down. Very nice. Turn your head. This might pinch––I am going to scan your chip. Very good. Thank you."

The doctor snapped off his laser monitor and placed it in his bag. "You may get dressed, now. I'll step into the hallway for a word with Mr. Al Sadique."

"No wait-" Jaren reached for his arm. "Tell me first. Please. I want to know."

The doctor turned to her, dark eyes critical behind his glasses. "I'm afraid there is little to tell. I had hoped to have some conclusive evidence by now, but there is none. The swelling is down, but there is a great deal of scar tissue."

"But, I told you, the headaches are gone."

"Yes, and that is excellent. But it relates more to your head trauma than to the bio-ware, I am afraid. No, your body is healing quite nicely, which I attribute to your age and health. But I am afraid only time will tell about the implants."

"You said I could try and access it when the swelling went down."

"And so you may. When the time is right." He nodded and pulled a small notepad from his jacket pocket, jotting a few notes quickly on it. "We shall check again in two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Jaren echoed in dismay, "But it's already been two months!"

He frowned at her, adjusting the spectacles on his narrow nose, "Young lady, I am quite aware of your anxiety. But the surest way to cripple this connection, not to mention causing possible brain contamination, would be to rush your recovery. Surely you cannot wish that?"

Jaren closed her eyes for a moment. "No. Of course not."

"I thought as much." He slipped the notepad away again. "Now, I shall go and make my report to your benefactor, and be on my way."

"And you'll be back in two weeks?"

"If my time permits, yes," he replied, closing his bag and looking frankly at her, his pause pregnant. "I must say, honestly, however–I have my doubts that this implant will ever be operable. The scarring was prohibitive. I told Colonel Al Sadique when you were operated on that this was a risky proposition at best. And quite possibly a colossal waste of his money, your health, and my time. I must caution you seriously against holding too many expectations."

With that he bowed stiffly and left the room.

Jaren watched him go, her frustration barely in check, and then she pulled off the paper gown in one violent motion, crumpling it and throwing it toward the door where he had just exited. She brought both fists down onto the bed on either side of her, letting a muted cry of rage slip through clenched teeth.

Sain found her a few minutes later, clad in a thin silk robe and seated on one of the chairs by the fireplace, staring at the empty hearth.

He took a seat quietly in the chair opposite, eyes on her.

"He's an ass," she said, without looking at him.

"Dr. Nabibi is the best specialist in his field."

"Well, get me the second best," she snapped, turning a bitter look on him. "Just as long as he isn't an ass."

"He did not tell you what you wished to hear."

"Oh, that's what you think this is about?" She rose to her feet, crossing away from him, toward the windows, where the morning sunlight filtered into dappled patterns on the teak. "Jaren's just being a child, again?"

"I did not say that."

"No, but you were thinking it."

"Yes. I was," he said simply.

She stared at him.

"Jaren," he said, his eyes serious in his handsome face. "Since you came here, you have been constantly tilting at windmills, always fighting ghosts that are not there. This place is not your prison, and I am not your enemy. Yet I cannot seem to make you see that. No matter how I try."

"I never said you were."

"Perhaps not," he said, rising to his feet. "Yet still you struggle like a fish on a string."

Jaren's jaw set. "You don't understand."

He smiled. "I think I do." He rose to his feet and crossed to her. "Come. No more of this. The news was fine. In two weeks, we shall see what we shall see."

He pulled her to him, and she rested her head on his shoulder as he stroked her arm and planted a kiss in her hair.

"Now," he said, "I must go to the spaceport and fetch my cousin. When I come back, if the sun shows her face, we shall have a walk by the river, and a picnic lunch. Alright?"

She nodded.

All rights reserved. Copyright Jae Darcy 2016