Pay Me, Bug!

Chapter 35

WHEREIN Plans Previously Put in Motion Suddenly Bear Fruit

Grif opened his eyes. He wasn't in his cabin any more.

"I'm in the medibay, aren't I?" Grif turned his head and saw that he was, in fact, in medibay--and hooked up to a diagnostic monitor. Amys peered down at him, frowning.

"Hi Amys." Grif's face was numb and his stomach was on fire.

"How do you feel?" Amys asked.

Grif noticed that Cyrus, Hari, Cutter and Vod were also in the room.

"Like you tried to gut me with a vibroknife," Grif said, trying to grin.

Amys looked away.

"No, hey wait, I was only--wait a minute. You did try to gut me with a vibroknife..."

Amys nodded.

"Dammit, Ebur..."

"You know," Cyrus said, peering over the top of the diagnostic monitor to stare down at Grif, "we really should stop coming up with complicated plans that require the use of a psychotic telepath."

"I'm starting to agree," Grif said. "When can I get out of this thing?"

"Another hour or so," Cutter said. "Amys really did a number on you. Bruised your face up something fierce, put a big gash in your belly, broke your left shoulder--"

"Again with the left arm!" Grif shouted, exasperated. "What the hell is it with that arm?"

Cyrus, Hari, Vod and Cutter laughed, but Amys wouldn't look at him.

"Oi!" he said. "Hey, cut it out, you big softy. I'm OK, right? And you have no one to blame but yourself. If you'd waited another ten, fifteen seconds before dragging my ass down here you'd have field-promoted yourself to captain of this ship, and no one would be able to say anything about it. Teach you not to think ahead..."

Amys laughed in spite of herself. "You're a bastard," she said.

"Yep. Somebody get me a drink."

"He's back to normal," Hari announced. "I'm going to get something to eat."

"That'd be good, too," Grif said.

"You know you can't do anything while you're still hooked up to that thing," Cutter said, smirking. "See ya later, Skip."

"Wait! Hold on a second..."

"Glad you're OK, Grif," Vod said, and left with Cutter.

"This isn't right."

"Well, I gotta go, too," Cyrus said, laughing. "Morgan and I have to go out and buy some new cargo... and pick up the kids."

"What, now? How long have I--"

"Later Grif," Cyrus called, and walked out of the medibay, still chuckling.

Amys didn't leave. She looked at Grif and smiled a little.

"Those bastards!" Grif laughed in spite of himself. "Leaving me in my infirmity. What time is it, anyway? How long have I been out?"

"It's almost 1100," Amys said. "And for the record, I'm sorry..."

"Cut it out," Grif said. "If the only time I have to worry about you killing me is when you're being controlled by a bloodthirsty telepath, I figure I'm ahead of the game."

Amys chuckled and shook her head. "Well, I was worried for a second."

"So was I," Grif said. "The second I realized I was about two meters from that damn comm badge. After that, I was too busy to worry much..."