“How’s our little fighter?” Ivy asks loudly as she throws open the door.

  Cassie wakes with a start at the sound.

  “Fuck you.” She mumbles, but makes no effort to open her eyes.

  “She was sleeping.” Waking her up was incredibly rude.

  “I was just resting.” Cassie can’t muster the energy to give more than a half-hearted argument.

  “So that wasn’t snoring I heard?” Ivy walks over to Cassie’s side.

  “That was Vince.”

  “She’s right.” Vince says, throwing his hands in the air. “I was sleeping upright and alert.”

  “Told you!” Cassie puts all her energy into a triumphant yell, which comes out barely louder than her regur speaking voice.

  “My, you are getting old.” Ivy draws out her words slowly. “I think I see a bit of drool on your shirt too.”

  Cassie gives a nearly inaudible ugh.

  “I take it you’re feeling alright then?” Ivy asks Cassie.

  “No, I’m not feeling anything.” I think there’s a hint of anger in Cassie’s voice? It’s hard to tell with how much she’s slurring her words. “Apparently they turned off my arm for safety or something.”

  “But how are you feeling beyond that?”

  “Oh! Pretty fucking good.” Cassie limply waves her hand in the air, as if it’s making some grand point. “I think I’m ready to head back to my room.” She moves to stand up, only to be blocked by Vince.

  “Let’s give it a few more minutes, alright? Just to make me feel better?”

  “Ugh, fine.” She flops back into her bed. “Dick.” She mumbles to herself.

  “I sure am.” Vince chuckles.

  “Hey, can I have some water?” Cassie rubs her throat as if she suddenly realized it was bothering her.

  “Sure. Just take little sips.” Vince reaches into his satchel and hands her a rge canteen.

  Of course Cassie doesn’t listen, the moment she gets the cap off, she begins chugging the water. Vince only gives a sigh in response. I can’t believe she’s already feeling more awake.

  “I’m not helping you if you get sick.” Vince says in the most unconvincing voice I’ve ever heard.

  Cassie finally finishes drinking and hands the canteen back to Vince.

  “This isn’t my first surgery.”

  “Yeah, but-”

  Vince and Cassie begin a good-natured argument. While they talk, Ivy turns to me.

  “How’s that hair treating you?” She asks.

  “Perfect, thank you.” I look down at the half completed project in my p. “It’s just going to take some time.”

  “Good. Just ask if you need help. Oh, and let me know when you’re done and I’ll style it for you.” She says with a smile.

  “I will.” I respond with a small smile of my own. “Thank you.”

  “Hey Blue,” Cassie interrupts our conversation. “Hand me that screwdriver.”

  “Why?” I ask.

  “I’m going to turn this thing on.”

  “Cassie, that’s a bad idea.” Vince warns her while giving me a look that makes it clear I shouldn’t give her the screwdriver.

  “Come on.” She compins. “I’ve had way worse ideas.”

  “Sorry. I’m not going to let you hurt yourself.” Vince gently, but firmly tells her. “I’m not sure how many more surgeries I can handle.”

  “Fine.” She once again drops back into her bed. I’m not sure if she should be moving around this much. But I guess Vince would put a stop to her if she was in too much danger. Probably. Or at least he’d try.

  “Thank you.” Vince breathes a sigh of relief. “I’ll get Sonia to enable your hand ter today, alright? But you can’t use your shoulder.”

  “Deal!” Cassie yells as if she’s won the negotiation of a lifetime. “If you give me the screwdriver I can-”

  “No.” Vince says far more firmly, although without any hint of annoyance. “You’re in no position to do electrical work.”

  I could probably do it, but I’m not about to say that. Vince is right, she needs her rest. I dive into working on my hair before she can ask for help.

  “Just give it an hour.” Ivy reaches over and pces her hand on Cassie’s. “I’ll make sure you don’t have to wait a second more.”

  “Alright.” That promise seems to have pcated Cassie. “But only if you get me some food.”

  “Sure, I’ll get you something.” Vince stands up. “Do you want anything?” He turns to Ivy before he leaves.

  “I’m good.”

  “Alright, I’ll be back in a second.” Vince steals one st gnce at Cassie before he leaves, as if he’s afraid it’ll be his st.

  “I hope he wasn’t too nervous during the surgery.” Cassie breaks the growing silence after almost a minute, probably waiting until she’s sure Vince will be unable to hear her. She sounds a little guilty.

  “He never took his eyes off of you.” I tell her.

  “Ugh. Not sure how I’m going to make it up to him.”

  “I don’t think you need to do anything.” Ivy reassures her. “Best thing you can do is try to make your recovery go smoothly.”

  “No, he’d be bored out of his mind.” Cassie says dismissively. “I could take over training duty for a few weeks.”

  “Oh, he would love that. These kids are the worst we’ve ever had.”

  “Actually, maybe I’ll do undry or something.” Cassie gives out a small ugh.

  “Oh no, it’s too te to back out now.” Ivy joins her ughter. “Good luck training some top floor reject just looking for a reason.”

  “Fuck, really?”

  “Mm hm. Only good part is that he’s slow and the worst shot I’ve ever seen.”

  “Why the fuck is he even here? What is Silver doing?” Cassie is far more animated than she has been.

  “I’m sure they’d call it politics.”

  “It’s bullshit, that’s what it is. Sounds like we’re getting paid to get some kid killed.”

  “Then you better be a good teacher.” Ivy says casually.

  Their conversation is cut short by the door once again opening. Vince comes in with a rge pte of crackers with a single chocote chip cookie on the side.

  “A cookie? What’s the occasion?” Ivy asks without any hint of surprise on her face.

  “Is that really for me?” Cassie asks with wide eyes.

  “Yes, but eat some crackers first. I’d hate for you to throw it up.” Vince gently pces the pte down on Cassie’s p and helps her sit up.

  “Right, yeah.” Cassie begins to slowly nibble on crackers. Whatever exhaustion still lingered inside her disappears as she eats, and she keeps gncing protectively at her pte.

  “Sorry you can’t eat Little Blue, or I’d get you one too.”

  “It’s fine.” I tell him. “I assume cookies are rare?”

  “No, anyone can make a cookie. It’s chocote that’s a little tough to get.” He says.

  “That’s an understatement.” Ivy ughs. “It’s a tossup if that cookie or her new arm costs more.”

  “How much did this cost?” Cassie asks with her mouth full of cracker.

  “Nothing. I just asked a friend for a favor.” Vince dismisses her question with a wave of his hand.

  Cassie finishes her cracker and picks up the cookie. She takes the smallest bite possible, savoring every bit of it.

  “Oh, before I forget,” Ivy breaks the silence. “Cassie here said that she’s going to take care of training for a few weeks.”

  “Oh, did she? Well I certainly wouldn’t compin.”

  Cassie is too enraptured by her cookie to argue. It takes her a few minutes to finish half the cookie. When she does, she hands the remainder to Vince.

  “Here.”

  “Oh no, it’s yours.” Vince holds up his hands. “Just enjoy it.”

  Cassie shakes her head.

  “I don’t want to make this up to you too. Just take it.”

  “Cassie, really. It’s-”

  “Just take it.” Cassie says with more force than I would have expected possible in her current state.

  “Alright.” Vince takes his first bite, even smaller than the ones Cassie was taking. His eyes close, enjoying his treat in pure bliss.

  “Is food really that good?” I ask the other two.

  “Most of it sucks, but it turns out chocote is incredibly good.” There is the smallest hint of wistfulness in Cassie’s voice.

  “It didn’t use to.” Vince comes out of his trance for just long enough to say, before enjoying his cookie once again.

  “You mean you used to have more than just beans?” Ivy asks with mock surprise.

  “Mm hm.” Vince decides not to eborate.

  I think I can guess why. According to the information in my head, you could walk into a store and buy foods from all across the globe. I’m not sure what the limits of Arc City’s hydroponics system is, but it can’t even be close to what the world has lost.

  Supposedly there was a vault that kept seeds of nearly every seed on the pnet in Norway. I wonder if anyone ever recovered them? Maybe there’s somewhere out there with all the diversity that used to exist.

  No, it’s a nice thought, but the chances of that are practically zero. The seed vault wasn’t a secret, and even if someone did recover them, it would take a city far rger than is possible to support that many different pnts. It’s not worth telling the others and getting their hopes up.

  “I’m gd I’m not missing out on much.” It might be possible to simute some form of taste, but without context the data would be useless. Sure I could tell how salty something is, but I’d have no idea if I like salt or not. The only thing I do like is the regurgitated food from Corax’s parents, but I really hope that’s just his memories coloring my perception. Oh and I guess I like milk, or at least the dog certainly did.

  “Not having to sleep must be nice.” Ivy says, bringing me out of my thoughts. “I’d trade my sense of taste for that.”

  “It’s a lot harder to fill the time than you would expect. Cassie’s books have been a lifesaver.” Literally.

  “Don’t say anything.” Cassie says seriously at Ivy.

  “I didn’t!” She lifts her hands in the air in surrender. Just like always, her face gives no hint of what they’re referring to.

  “You were thinking about something.”

  “That doesn’t mean I was going to say anything.”

  “Sure you weren’t.” Cassie rolls her eyes.

  She seems almost entirely back to her old self. I can’t believe how quickly she recovered. Looks like I was right that they don’t use the same anesthetics they used to.

  A few moments of silence settles on the group, and I use that opportunity to stand up.

  “I’m going to go check on Corax.” I announce to everyone.

  “Is he ok?” Vince looks concerned.

  “It’s not his fault, but he’s stuck in an emotion. Cassie can tell you what happened.” I really don’t want to relive the whole story.

  “Ok. We’ll either be here or in Cassie’s room. Feel free to come back ter.”

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I head into the hallway. I don’t mean to eavesdrop, but I can’t help but hear a few words as I walk towards the stairs.

  “You two sure are hanging out a lot.”

  “Yeah yeah.” Cassie responds. “She’s sometimes nice to sit with.”

  “Aww, I’ll have to tell her that.” Ivy says.

  “Don’t you fucking dare!” Cassie yells. Even halfway down the hallway I can hear her clearly.

  Ivy’s ugh slowly fades out as I finally get out of earshot.

  JanePtinum