Passenger

Chapter 11

 Petre gestured to a cushioned table over to the side, the same kind that any other doctor would use for a checkup. Krys obliged, though seeming reluctant to do so. I watched him as he rubbed his arms momentarily, glancing over at Neb. "can you...um..."

"leave? Sure, no problem." Neb nodded and glanced over at a door. "Doc, I'm just gonna scoot on in here for a minute. Is that good?"

Petre just flicked a hand dismissively. Neb took that as a yes and vanished through the other door as I glanced at Krys, frowning.

He didn't meet my eyes. Petre grabbed a notebook and a pen, glancing at Krys. "alright, being who I am, I need to take an analysis of your mental and physical state – but since you're an Avian, I don't know how your baseline compares to a human or a monster, I'm going to have to do some dead reckoning. This should let me know if you have any capability to regrow your wings."

Slowly, Krys nodded. "what do you need me to do?" he asked quietly.

"nothing too bad, just a basic checkup." Petre flipped to a new page on the notebook, then glanced up at Krys again. "first, physical inspection. Remove your outer shirt, please – er, your only shirt, apparently."

Krys hesitated. He seemed uncomfortable – maybe because I was still here? "I can turn around, if it makes you feel better." I offered. "just blink twice if you want me to."

Another moment of hesitation. Then, the Avian blinked twice. Obliging, I turned my back to him and started peering over a few loose leaflets of paper I could see on a nearby table. I could hear a few questions being exchanged between the two, and Petre scribbling some notes. It took all my will not to turn and look. I mean, can you blame me? I was curious. I knew so little about Krys himself that anything would probably be new knowledge.

But I managed to restrain myself. "alright, that should be all." Petre said a few minutes later. "you can put your shirt back on. Thanks for humoring me...ah, what was your name?"

"Krys." The Avian replied. I turned back to see Krys was properly clothed again. "and...it was no problem, Doctor Petre. Sorry for being...uh, nervous."

It was true. There was a tension and posture in Krys' shoulders that I hadn't seen since he had initially spoken with Leif. He was clearly nervous – for what reason, I wasn't quite sure.

But Petre waved a hand. "relax. You're being inspected by a man of a different species who you've known for ten minutes. It's perfectly natural to be nervous. As a matter of fact, call me Ryan at this point. I think you're gonna be here for a bit." Turning away, Petre closed the notebook with a snap. "well, you seem...healthy, for certain. As for your wings...well, I'll have to consult some books, but I should be able to figure out whether they can be regenerated or not."

Huh. Petre had made a weird hesitation on the 'healthy' point. What was up with that? I glanced at Krys, but he still wasn't looking me in the eye. He seemed...nervous wasn't the right word. It was something else –

"uh, hello?" Neb's voice ruined my train of thought. "can I come back out now? I, uh...didn't realize this was just a storage closet..."

Krys stifled a laugh. Petre snickered. "sure thing, you can come out." He called.

Immediately the door burst open. Neb sprang out, looking grumpy. "too many chemicals. Too many smells!" he complained, clawing at his nose. "how do you people stand all those smells.

Now all three of us laughed, myself included. "there's a window over there, if you need to, ah, cleanse your palette." Petre told him, pointing to the nearby window in question. "I would have warned you, but you didn't really give me a chance."