Serendipity (Book 1 of the Dana Halliday series)

NOVERNYI. HUMERUS ONE AND TWO. ESPECIALLY CROMULENT.

"Not now," Novernyi said to my no-doubt intelligent face. "Later. When we get a good chance."

From down in the cargo hold, I heard Adrian, and then Klea and Flynt. 

"I don't know," I stammered. "That's...not really in my skill set."

Her eyes hooded in a grouchy look. "Then you might as well just leave me alone."

"Look..." I tried for patience.  "Your ship is on the Kolmira Seven." I twitched my head at the window behind me. "And it's broken or damaged or something."

"Your friend, the Fenn. He could help me fix it." Billie nudged her hand, and Novernyi started petting her again. Her expression turned pleading. "Would he?"

"Well, I think so. Maybe. I can have Patricia call him and—"

"No!" Novernyi started to rise, then sat back down with a little yelp. "Not now. During the challenge. That will be our best chance to slip away. I need to get to my race, I can't be late."

I frowned. She hadn't moved her right arm for the entire conversation. "Okay, okay, but you're gonna have to fill me in on this challenge thing. Let's go down to Sickbay, I'll make sure no one comes in."

Adrian met me halfway there. "Klea's just leaving. We're going to the Black Kestrel in about an hour. Can you be ready then?" He gave Novernyi a warm grin. "Novi, how are you? I didn't have a chance to say it before, but it's good to see you again."

"I need to take her to Sickbay," I said firmly. "Then I'll find my little black dress and my stripper heels."

"Yeah?"

I punched him on the shoulder. "I didn't bring formal wear."

"Too bad. You'd look great in heels." He inclined his head to Novernyi and said, in Prechoru, "We're not done yet, Novi." He coughed out the words.

She started, then I saw her hold back a smile, maybe even a laugh at his linguistic attempt. We proceeded to Sickbay, Billie trotting behind us.

* * *

I had to reassure Novernyi that everyone had vacated the hospital and that Patricia would prevent unwanted visitors. She insisted on it before she would remove any of her clothing, which turned out to be a tattered jumpsuit rather than the mummy-wrapping it resembled. I tried to keep in mind that the woman had been through a shitload more than I could imagine from my rather safe and liberated background.

The edges of the scales on her upper right arm were covered in pinpoints of dark red-brown, and I could see the deeper bruising in the skin underneath, which was tight with swelling. 

"What happened?"

McScanny's screen showed two bones in the upper arm. I'd have to ask Lonavat their names; for now I thought of them as Humerus One and Two. Both were fractured cleanly mid-shaft, thankfully not displaced much.

"It happened during the fight earlier," Novernyi explained, clacking her lips as I gently palpated the angry skin over the break. The tissue felt crackly under my fingers, almost spongy. "I've spent too much time in low gravity, my bones are weak."

I thought she and the Qir kids could form an osteoporosis support group. 

"There's some subcutaneous emphysema—air under the skin." I looked at the x-ray again, seeing the dark bubbles of gas outlining the muscles of her arm. "Your bones are hollow, like a bird's. There's no breaks in the skin for air to get in, so something in there must be connected to your respiratory system."

She only gazed blankly at me. "If you say so."

I could hardly believe she'd managed to conceal the pain from the injury. Maybe she'd learned that at the re-education colony. Gah.