Children of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy Page B

forming endless parallel lines. Security and maintenance toms skittered along the edges of the deck.
    The brig was little more than a small annex that led to a couple of even smaller cells. In the annex, a medic was in conversation with the guard on duty. The workstation showed a holoviz display of the interior of one cell, the same view Edie had watched from the Peregrine . Finn lay on his side on the deck, a med cuff on one wrist.
    “Why haven’t you taken him to the infirmary?” Edie demanded.
    The medic glanced from West to the guard, as if waiting for permission to speak. When neither said anything, he answered, “I’m not sure exactly what happened to him. His vitals are stable. We have a far more serious problem in the infirmary. I have to get back there.” He spoke to the guard as he left. “I’ll monitor the prisoner from my station.”
    “Let me in to see him,” Edie said.
    The guard was not happy with the request, but West gave him a look and he snapped the hatch. Edie pushed past the guard and went inside.
    “He’s sedated,” the guard said.
    Edie knelt to touch Finn’s hand. Someone had wiped some of the blood from his face, and the med cuff displayed promising vital signs. Edie kept herself calm, forced down a new wave of tears and anger, not wanting to fire up the leash.
    “Finn…”
    He stirred and turned his head toward her voice. She leaned over to press her forehead against his, willing him to forgive her.
    “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
    As she pulled back, his eyes opened. Where they should be white, they were blood red. Edie gasped and gripped his hand. He looked at her, recognition slowly dawning.
    The guard stepped forward. “Uh, that’s temporary, the doc says. Burst capillaries, nothing serious.”
    Edie could think of half a dozen angry things to say to the others in the room. She kept them to herself. Natesa was the one who had to answer for this.
    “I won’t let them hurt you again,” Edie told Finn.
    He closed his eyes without speaking.
    The cell walls closed around Edie as she felt the Crib tightening its grip on her life. Natesa had promised not to harm him, but here he lay, tortured and near unconscious in the brig. That woman had a lot to answer for.
    A commotion outside the cell drew her attention. What now?
    Liv Natesa burst into the cell. Her hair was pulled back hurriedly into a ponytail, and her face was scrubbed clean of makeup. Her face was taut with anger, but in her eyes was a stricken expression that Edie had never seen before.
    “What did you do?” Natesa cried.
    Edie’s composure dissolved. “You promised he wouldn’t be hurt!”
    As she rose, West jumped forward and took a firm grip on her arm to hold her back. “Don’t make me regret taking off the restraints,” he muttered.
    “What’s going on here? What did you do to her?” Beneath Natesa’s anger, Edie saw fear and shock rising to the surface. She wasn’t used to such a blatant display from Natesa, whose poise was legendary.
    West started to explain. “Colonel Theron questioned her on the Peregrine —”
    “I’m not talking about her .” Natesa glared at Edie. “I was just informed that you put my…one of my cyphertecks into a coma.”
    Edie found it hard to care. Especially when Natesa didn’t care about what she and Finn had just been through. “I had to stop them. They tortured Finn. We had a deal—”
    “I assure you, I did not authorize any torture.” Natesa’s voice was flat, cold. Her sudden calmness seemed to take great effort. She glowered at West. “Your crew is to return to the Peregrine . I want your ship out of my hangar—immediately.”
    West shifted his feet stiffly. “I’ll relay your message to Colonel Theron,” he countered with a touch of insolence. Natesa wasn’t a milit, or the captain of the Learo Dochais . She didn’t have the authority to throw around such orders.
    Natesa’s lips settled into a hard line. “Just stay out of my way. You