Read Online The Lazarus Particle by Logan Thomas Snyder - Free Book Online

under the circumstances. She certainly hadn’t taken him for someone who was about to suffer an atomizing seizure. Nor, apparently, had Dr. Jenner; according to Pruitt he had given Fenton a clean bill of health only hours (and several dirty martinis) earlier.
    Strange. Something wasn’t adding up. Roon fiddled with her jacket, buttoning and unbuttoning it absently as she considered the variables already known to her.
    Time righted itself a moment later with the arrival of the lift. She stepped inside it, followed closely by Pruitt.
    As the lift ascended, she regarded herself in the mirrored finish of the chamber. She had dressed as smartly as she was able under the circumstances. It was a worthy effort, she thought, considering her brain was still besieged beneath the black clouds of a thundering hangover. (Despite its promise of fast-acting relief, the shot of IntoxiCure she downed before exiting her quarters had yet to take full effect.) Then she happened to glance down, noting with equal parts embarrassment and bemusement that no one—in particular a certain civilian liaisons officer—had been so kind as to mention that her slip was showing. Rather obviously, at that. Had she been alone in the lift she would have corrected the wardrobe malfunction and thought nothing more of it. As it was, though, she wasn’t about to go rummaging around in her skirts with Ensign Pruitt standing right next to her. Given a choice between maintaining her modesty and stoically embracing a minor embarrassment, she was almost certain to take the former at every opportunity.
    Feeling the energetic hum of the lift begin to dissipate beneath her, Roon steeled herself for whatever version of Fenton she might find beyond its doors. Bright-eyed and bushy tailed or bed-bound and barely registering the world beyond, she resolved to do anything in her power as an advocate to maintain the best interests of her client. When at last the lift fluttered to an almost imperceptibly soft stop and the doors opened, Ensign Pruitt made to follow her out.
    “Thank you, Ensign Pruitt,” she said, wheeling to a stop just on the other side of the lift’s threshold, “I can take it from here.”
    “Are you sure, ma’am?”
    Again, she considered reminding him not to call her that. Then she realized it was just protocol. Being something of a slave to protocol herself, she could hardly fault him for following it so doggedly. “Quite sure, yes. I’m sure you have far more pressing duties to attend. I’ll find my way back on my own. You know what they say.”
    At that, Pruitt smiled. “If you’ve been on one station, you’ve been on them all. Very well,” he said, receding back into the lift. With a parting nod, the lift doors closed and he was gone.
    Roon couldn’t help congratulating herself. For one, because he hadn’t been decent enough to mention the state of her slip. For another, and much more importantly, because she couldn’t trust anyone aboard the station. After the sudden turn of events, she felt a nagging sense of foreboding that wouldn’t let go. Civilian liaison officer or not, Ensign Pruitt remained a cog in Morgenthau-Hale’s vast military machine; so too was the doctor who greeted her.
    “May I help you?”
    “Hello,” she said, trying to strike the right balance between cheerful and appropriately duty-bound. “Dr. Jenner, I presume?”
    “Correct. What I can do for you?”
    “My name is Advocate Roon McNamara, Dr. Jenner. I understand my client, one Fenton James Wilkes, suffered a seizure while in holding and was put in the custody of your care shortly thereafter. I need to see him as soon as possible, make certain he’s being properly cared for and so on. I’m sure you understand.”
    Jenner nodded slowly, making a show of consulting his flexpad. “Ah, yes, Mr. Wilkes… hmm.”
    “Is something wrong, Doctor?” she ventured when he hesitated.
    “Well, as you say, Mr. Wilkes suffered a rather significant seizure. I would