The Streamer's Edge

Chapter 20 - On the Mend

Finn awoke with an intense feeling of vertigo. As awareness slowly returned, he realized he was sitting in a hospital bed.

He tried to sit up, and immediately regretted it. His entire body felt like it had been worked over by a krag warchief. On the plus side, he realized glumly, the swelling in his eye had gone down enough for him to see out of it again.

A panel on the wall abruptly changed into an image of a gold-haired Minaen in doctor's attire.

"Good afternoon, Mister Cresste," she said pleasantly. "Can you tell me how you're feeling today?"

"Can't," Finn said, cracking a smile. "Mum taught me not to use naughty words."

The Minaen's smile twitched slightly, as though she wanted to laugh but was far too professional to actually do so. "You had a nasty concussion, Mister Cresste. What is the last thing you remember?"

"Um ... we were running out of Glendale Apartments, and-" Sitting up despite the pain it caused him, Finn asked, "Xyn! Is she okay?"

"Please, Mister Cresste, lay back down."

The firmness in her voice made it clear she wasn't going to say anything until he did as she said. With a sigh, he lay back in the bed.

Nodding approvingly, the Minean continued, "You had some minor burns as well, but nothing that shouldn't heal with the proper treatments. As for your scaal friend, she's been recovering well. She's been withdrawn since regaining consciousness, though it's probably due to detoxing; she had a high concentration of nectar in her system when she was brought in."

"Nectar." Finn repeated, remembering her orange eyes. The thought that he had driven her to abusing Nectar made him sick to his stomach.

The Minaen doctor gave him a reassuring smile. "Why so glum? You both made it out, no one was hurt, and people are calling you a hero."

"Don't feel much like a hero," Finn admitted glumly.

"Well, maybe this will cheer you up."

The screen went blank. Finn stared at it for a few minutes of silence before the door to his room opened seemingly of its own volition. The reason became clear moments later as Jake hopped onto the bed, his tail end wagging happily. "Finn! You're alive! Ha!"

"Hey, Jake," Finn said, rubbing the top KEI-9 unit's head. "It's good to see a friendly face."

"Hey, I had to come check on my kid brother, right? Still can't believe what happened with Xyn, man."

"I know," Finn said, shaking his head. "I can't stop thinking about it."

"Cheer up, buddy. I mean, she's alive, and you're alive. It's a shame about the apartments, but apparently they hadn't even opened for business yet. Good thing too; apparently the fire suppression systems weren't activated properly. Ironic, huh? Oh, and guess what? Godot got our transponder fixed, and he didn't find any bugs onboard, squishy or otherwise. It finally looks like we might be in the clear!"

"Good," Finn replied. "I want to get off this rock as soon as I'm back on my feet."

"Sure, man. Sure thing. We're all just waiting on you."

Something in Jake's tone made Finn suspicious. "Just how long was I out, anyway?"

"Three days. Apparently there was a bit of internal trauma. No worries, though; I mean, you're awake now, so you must be good."

Finn sighed. "Good enough to get out of here, I hope."

"Yeah. Hey, I'll go grab the others. You wait right here."