It was a good change. He decided that once they were done here, he was going to dig his boots out of his trunk. He should’ve thought of it before.
Dr. Geddes was heavier than Tron expected. The man was so thin. It never occurred to him that it would be difficult to pull the body out of the corner, let alone across the room. He shifted the corpse around until he had locked his arms around Geddes’s chest, holding it against him like some kind of strange backward hug. Then he walked the body backward across the Med Bay and out the door.
The crunching glass followed them out into the corridor. Tron was nearly sick when he realized that it was ground into the dead man’s body. He didn’t let himself look down. He knew that if he saw the kind old man mutilated, he wouldn’t be able to swallow down the bile burning the back of his throat. So he kept walking. Ten feet to the Mess Hall.
Getting Geddes inside was n’t too hard. He’d pulled the door open a crack when he’d passed by before. He just unlocked his hands and used the left one to push it the rest of the way. Then he was inside. But he wouldn’t look, not this time. If he looked, he was going to cry again. He couldn’t do that. Kivi would hear, just like he heard her humming. So instead of thinking about what was all around him, or about his mother’s face, he closed his eyes and just listened to that melody. Twelve steps. That should be enough. That would be all the way inside.
He cracked his eyes again, just enough to see the way out. He hurried through, closing the door without ever looking in. He leaned against the door across from the Mess for a minute, sucking in several ragged breaths. Kivi’s humming faltered, then stopped. Tron pulled off his helmet, afraid that anything she heard over the radio would give him away. For a second, there was no sound at all. Just his own gasps for air and a faint, almost inaudible hiss from the door behind him. Then the humming started again. Tron sagged with relief and put his helmet back on. He could hear her with it off, but it was easier to hear with it on. Besides, he liked the humming.
The next part was easier. It took him a little while to find a broom, which was amusing since there always seemed to be one at hand when someone wanted to punish him with cleaning duty. Rags were in abundant supply. Those he could just pull off of any bed he wanted. Still, he searched until he found one that someone else had designated for cleaning. It didn’t seem right, taking sheets off of the beds that people he knew had slept in just the night before. Once he had both, he headed back to Med Bay.
Tron had always hated sweeping. It seemed so pointless. They lived in an enclosed space. Any dirt he swept up would just end up back there again a few days later. They were dirty creatures, people, and spending time pretending that was otherwise just seemed like a waste of time. But this was different. This time, he wasn’t cleaning. He was fixing.
They were going to need the med bay. Tron knew that as surely as he knew that his heart was beating. Lucy wasn’t designed to be taken care of by two people, and even if they figured out how to get it running again, they wouldn’t be able to follow proper safety procedures to keep it working. If they even knew those procedures. It wasn’t like either one of them was trained for something like this. If they didn’t turn the engine back on, they would need to find some kind of drug that would kill them fast. Or he would. Tron had no intention of dying gasping. Either way, it was only a matter of time before this room was needed. Tron wasn’t going to walk through glass again.
Once the floor was clean, he did a more thorough search of every cabinet. It took a little work, getting them open, but he figured out the trick eventually. After that, the work went a lot quicker. There were more bottles with pills in them than he’d thought the first time. Tron didn’t know what any of
Dr. Geddes was heavier than Tron expected. The man was so thin. It never occurred to him that it would be difficult to pull the body out of the corner, let alone across the room. He shifted the corpse around until he had locked his arms around Geddes’s chest, holding it against him like some kind of strange backward hug. Then he walked the body backward across the Med Bay and out the door.
The crunching glass followed them out into the corridor. Tron was nearly sick when he realized that it was ground into the dead man’s body. He didn’t let himself look down. He knew that if he saw the kind old man mutilated, he wouldn’t be able to swallow down the bile burning the back of his throat. So he kept walking. Ten feet to the Mess Hall.
Getting Geddes inside was n’t too hard. He’d pulled the door open a crack when he’d passed by before. He just unlocked his hands and used the left one to push it the rest of the way. Then he was inside. But he wouldn’t look, not this time. If he looked, he was going to cry again. He couldn’t do that. Kivi would hear, just like he heard her humming. So instead of thinking about what was all around him, or about his mother’s face, he closed his eyes and just listened to that melody. Twelve steps. That should be enough. That would be all the way inside.
He cracked his eyes again, just enough to see the way out. He hurried through, closing the door without ever looking in. He leaned against the door across from the Mess for a minute, sucking in several ragged breaths. Kivi’s humming faltered, then stopped. Tron pulled off his helmet, afraid that anything she heard over the radio would give him away. For a second, there was no sound at all. Just his own gasps for air and a faint, almost inaudible hiss from the door behind him. Then the humming started again. Tron sagged with relief and put his helmet back on. He could hear her with it off, but it was easier to hear with it on. Besides, he liked the humming.
The next part was easier. It took him a little while to find a broom, which was amusing since there always seemed to be one at hand when someone wanted to punish him with cleaning duty. Rags were in abundant supply. Those he could just pull off of any bed he wanted. Still, he searched until he found one that someone else had designated for cleaning. It didn’t seem right, taking sheets off of the beds that people he knew had slept in just the night before. Once he had both, he headed back to Med Bay.
Tron had always hated sweeping. It seemed so pointless. They lived in an enclosed space. Any dirt he swept up would just end up back there again a few days later. They were dirty creatures, people, and spending time pretending that was otherwise just seemed like a waste of time. But this was different. This time, he wasn’t cleaning. He was fixing.
They were going to need the med bay. Tron knew that as surely as he knew that his heart was beating. Lucy wasn’t designed to be taken care of by two people, and even if they figured out how to get it running again, they wouldn’t be able to follow proper safety procedures to keep it working. If they even knew those procedures. It wasn’t like either one of them was trained for something like this. If they didn’t turn the engine back on, they would need to find some kind of drug that would kill them fast. Or he would. Tron had no intention of dying gasping. Either way, it was only a matter of time before this room was needed. Tron wasn’t going to walk through glass again.
Once the floor was clean, he did a more thorough search of every cabinet. It took a little work, getting them open, but he figured out the trick eventually. After that, the work went a lot quicker. There were more bottles with pills in them than he’d thought the first time. Tron didn’t know what any of
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