The voice is a tiny one, and Alyx could be excused for not hearing it. Few people ever do. The speaker, after all, is smaller than most grains of rice- and is currently tucked inside a flat-sided borosilicate glass test tube hidden under Gordon's clothes.
Which isn't to say that the speaker can't hear what's going on outside, and do her best to shout- as far as her best can go, anyway.
Alyx doesn't hear the little voice. Kei, however, does.
"He's not dead," he grunts.
"What?" Alyx is still too stunned for the words to register.
"He's not dead," repeats Kei. "His daemon's under his clothes, I hear her--"
Quick as a flash, Alyx is on her knees next to the body, pulling his shirt open. Sure enough, there's the glass pendant, with a tiny speck moving inside.
Of course. His daemon's a tartigrade. Kleiner told me and I forgot... A wave of mingled relief and embarrassment washes over her.
"Oh, wow," says the tiny daemon as the light and the overwhelming sense of another human's proximity starts pouring in. "That was a bad five minutes- Gordon! Gordon, wake up!"
About now, the man starts to stir, wincing more than a little.
When he awakens, he'll see two faces staring down at him. One is that of a young woman, olive-skinned and almond-eyed, with a strip of cloth holding back her dark hair; the other is a fully-grown Bengal tiger. Both have identical expressions of concern.
After a moment, the woman's expression softens and she tries to smile. "Dr. Freeman, I presume?"
Comments 22
The voice is a tiny one, and Alyx could be excused for not hearing it. Few people ever do. The speaker, after all, is smaller than most grains of rice- and is currently tucked inside a flat-sided borosilicate glass test tube hidden under Gordon's clothes.
Which isn't to say that the speaker can't hear what's going on outside, and do her best to shout- as far as her best can go, anyway.
"Hey! Hey! What's going on out there?"
Reply
"He's not dead," he grunts.
"What?" Alyx is still too stunned for the words to register.
"He's not dead," repeats Kei. "His daemon's under his clothes, I hear her--"
Quick as a flash, Alyx is on her knees next to the body, pulling his shirt open. Sure enough, there's the glass pendant, with a tiny speck moving inside.
Of course. His daemon's a tartigrade. Kleiner told me and I forgot... A wave of mingled relief and embarrassment washes over her.
Reply
About now, the man starts to stir, wincing more than a little.
Reply
After a moment, the woman's expression softens and she tries to smile. "Dr. Freeman, I presume?"
Reply
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