In the Shadow of the Starships

Chapter 6 A New Deal

The next morning, I sat up with a groan and tried to convince my muscles to work. Not only did my arms and legs feel like lead weights, but they were also stiff from yesterday's crash landing.

"We're never doing that again," I muttered as I tried to figure out how to escape the mound of blankets on my bed.

"I agree," Toby replied. "Good morning, by the way."

"Uh huh." I blinked several times, trying to focus enough to figure out how the blankets had wound around themselves so thoroughly, although it didn't help that I was still half asleep.

"Boy, you sure get a lot of emails about medical breakthroughs."

"The subject fascinates me," I grumbled. Just as much as the idea of throttling the chatty AI at this hour of the morning.

"I still think an improvement in your diet would help. Those mush bars may have the nutrition, but they're still lacking certain macro and micro nutrients."

"The bars cost less than a quarter of what a bag of groceries would and they don't go bad..." There was an edge to my voice that would warn him that he was stepping onto dangerous ground. I finally freed my legs and was glad the fuzzy pajamas protected my warm skin from the cool air.

"Would you agree to eat fruits or veggies at most meals if I nab a few petty criminals every night to cover the costs?" he pleaded. I could almost picture big, brown puppy eyes gazing at me as if I was holding the last treat in existence.

Extra money and the ability to eat real food instead of nutrient bars? Even my cranky morning pre-caffa mindset was no match against such an offer. My mouth watered in anticipation of the first real food it would actually get to taste in years.

"I think I can agree to that," I replied, trying not to sound too excited.

"Awesome! I'll start some scripts to pick out the easy ones!"

It was even enough of a motivator for me to stagger out of bed, only to stare at the full caffa pot and belatedly realize the smell filled the air.

"Uh, did you do that?" I asked, uneasily glancing around. The remote starting and programming options had broken years ago.

"Yep! I used the remote access to check the coding and found a countdown timer in the programming to make it fail. Probably so people would buy new caffa makers or have to suffer and get out of bed to push the button manually."

Suffering was definitely an apt term if one had to wait for caffa first thing in the morning, but I was too busy filling a mug to focus on that. The first long sip was like heaven. I might have to keep Toby around permanently, if only to brew my caffa for me.

"Have you ever considered cutting back?" Toby asked tentatively.

"Not a chance," I replied firmly.

He sounded puzzled as he said, "You've read enough health articles to know that your body actually doesn't feel the effects of the simulants after using them so consistently and for so long. Your body builds up a tolerance."

"Remind me to think about it in four months or so." Would he take the hint?

"Sure! Reminder set!"

Of course not... I took another long drink before reluctantly setting the mug down on the counter—even I wasn't about to take it into the bathroom.

"I'm going to have a shower. Turn the implant link off until I activate it on my bracelet."

"Shutting down the link!"

I set the bracelet on the charger and wandered into the bathroom with a yawn. It didn't take me long to shower and rub some salve onto the two larger bruises. Once dressed and presentable enough in case Toby had the webcam on for some reason, I emerged to reclaim my cup of caffa and tapped the bracelet screen.