Indentured (Book 2 of the Dana Halliday series)

STARRING DANA HALLIDAY. PURE SELF-PRESERVATION. ULTIMATE CURE.

The Tirzen rose, its robes barely stirring. "I assume you wish to examine her? I will leave as well, Sentinel."

"Thank you. I will be as brief as possible."

Biinaltt seemed to float as it crossed the room and followed Wys. I couldn't get over how uncanny the being was.

Gupirik stood. He was, like all the Oploki I'd met so far, about six feet two and strangely rectangular in appearance. When I'd encountered the Sentinels on Callisto, I'd thought it was the boxy shape of their clothing, but Gupirik wore a belted tunic of woven, multicolored cloth that draped on his body. It was almost a jacket, the tweedy sort that wanted elbow patches. An ornately detailed silver clasp rested at his throat. Now that I looked at it, I recognized the Oploki medical insignia, surrounded by the serrated circle of the Sentinels.

"Now," he said, making an obvious effort to sound reassuring, "tell me all that has happened to you." He leaned down and extracted a sleek black briefcase from under the desk, then opened it.

"I did." I watched as he lifted various items from the case.

"Doctor," Gupirik said. "We're alone. You can trust me."

"Doctor," I echoed, "I've no doubt I can trust you, but if you think we're alone, you're the dumbest R.D. I've ever met." I could see a hundred places in the room where Kez might have hidden cameras or microphones.

"R.D.? Never mind." Gupirik muttered to himself in his own language, then sighed again and waved a hand at me. "Please, undress. You can leave on your underclothes."

I raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you the one who just asked me about decorum?"

"I need to examine you and document your condition."

"I don't need to be naked for that." I gestured at the mini-scanner he was adjusting. It looked like a simple computer tablet, and it was the most Dr. McCoy-esque device of which I knew. Adrian's resources weren't yet sufficient to purchase one for Serendipity. That little flat square was worth more than several First World countries.

"No," he said. "And I promise I won't force you to be so, but I'd rather use my own eyes. What my scanner records could be altered, unlikely as that is. My memory of what I see, cannot."

I gave him a reluctant smile. "And you like to use your own senses."

Gupirik smiled back, equally reluctant but as genuine. "A patient isn't just a set of test results."

I slipped off my shoes before I stood, then stripped. As I was doing this, the Oploki doctor aimed the scanner at me, running its flickering blue light over me from head to toe. I crossed my arms over my chest out of sheer reflex.

"You had a mild head injury."

"Yeah, that happened right after Wys broke my nose. I fell and whacked my head on a table or something. I'm okay, no memory problems or anything."

"Your cheekbone and jaw are contused as well." Gupirik donned a pair of exam gloves and palpated my face. "Fortunately, just the nasal bone is fractured. You realigned it yourself?"

"I...yes, I did."

"That must have been extremely painful."

"I, um, had some morphine with me."

"You were struck repeatedly in the face." He shone a light in my eyes, then turned my head from side to side.

"I was out of control, like I said."

"You threatened Crae Kez after you agreed to be Indentured?"

"Mm, yeah."

He pressed a small gray box, apparently plastic, against the left side of my chest; the sound of my own heartbeat, a bit rapid, filled the room. "What set you off? He must have done something, said something...?"