Special Forces 01 by Honor Raconteur Page B

difficult at first, but most of the time I love it. The ocular implant has more functions than just allowing me to see. I can also zoom in on things I want to get a closer look at, or switch to infrared so I have better vision in the dark.” He poked at it ruefully with a finger. “The only real draw backs are times like these, when it breaks down. It is not as durable as I would like, and that can be a real problem in a combat situation. I believe that this is the first loss on a tennis court!”
    “Maybe Doctor Barnes has gotten tired of rebuilding your eye, and this new one is constructed with you in mind,” she encouraged in a teasing tone.
    Rys was gratified that she felt comfortable enough with his impairment to actually tease him about it. Maybe she really doesn’t mind the eye after all. “I really hope so. If I never hear another lecture from Doc on my uncanny ability to discover new ways to get him into the record books, it will be too soon.”
    ***
    “Rys, I’m going to permanently attach an impenetrable helmet to your skull if you don’t stop destroying my eyes!”
    Rys winced at this initial greeting from Doc. “Nice to see you too, Doc. How have you been?”
    Doc grinned back at him, clearly fond of his favorite mill stone. He was wearing his traditional white lab coat and comfortable fatigues. Rys thought of it as Doc’s “uniform.” His hair was as pale and as curly as ever, if a little less abundant than Rys remembered. Doc staunchly maintained that he didn’t have a receding hairline; he just had large wandering cowlicks. “You look a sight better than the last time I saw you, boy. And who might this pretty young woman be?”
    Rys slid sideways to make the introductions. “Doc, this is Anne Dorian. Anne, Doctor Allen Barnes.”
    Anne stepped forward without hesitation and shook hands with the doctor. “I am very relieved to make your acquaintance, Doctor Barnes,” she said with such sincerity and charm that even Doc, as cynical and crusty as he tended to be, melted like an ice bulkhead under a plasma arc. “Rys has been telling me about this incredible ocular implant that you created for him. It’s absolutely amazing — I thought things like this only existed in the realm of science fiction.”
    Doc actually blushed at her generous accolades. Rys would have confidently gambled a month’s pay, five minutes ago, that blushing was a medical impossibility for his staid doctor.
    “Well, I admit it was initially developed as much from desperation as inspiration. In fact, all the upgrades to it have occurred pretty much the same way. I was just trying to keep our soldiers alive, intact, and functioning at peak performance. Their field requirements have really kept me hopping, you can’t baby a piece of hardware when your life, and lives of your team is on the line.”
    Rys looked at her out of the side of his left eye. Amazing! She just wrapped him around her little finger in less than five seconds. He was going to have to study her technique; it could have some practical applications on covert missions!
    Wait. Perhaps I shouldn’t be amazed by this phenomenon; she managed the same thing with me, after all.
    “Well, Rys, sit down in that chair and let me have a look at what you’ve left me this time.”
    Rys blinked. Doc usually proceeded to lecture him for a good ten minutes, as a preamble, before taking a look at anything. Was he going easy on him because of Anne? Bringing her along was proving to be an excellent strategy. Whatever the case, he wasn’t about to question his good fortune. Rys promptly took the chair he was pointed to and automatically tilted his head at the proper angle, so that Doc could have easier access.
    Doc produced a digital magnifying scope from his coat pocket, and spent several minutes examining Rys’s damaged eye in painstaking detail. He made those characteristic impromptu grunts now and again that always got on Rys’s nerves. “Yep, you definitely busted