because she wasn’t sure why she would have left. Because this was all stupid? (There was that word again.) Because she didn’t want the help? Because she didn’t need the help?
Her eyes lined with tears.
Dammit. She didn’t want the help and she couldn’t stop crying. Maybe some kind of enhancement would be better.
“Talia?” Whatsisname Llewynn (“call me Evando”) said in a tone that sounded even more patronizing than the tone he had used a moment ago.
“Talia Flint- Shindo ,” she said, knowing she sounded bitchy, feeling bitchy, knowing she could get even more bitchy, feeling so very bitchy in fact that he had no idea what was coming at him. “That’s my name. And I didn’t give you permission to call me Talia.”
He smiled at her, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I get the message,” he said. “Your father made you come here. That’s all right, Talia, we can work with—”
“No,” she said, “‘we’ can’t do anything if you don’t respect me. I’m Talia Flint-Shindo, and you need to respect that.”
“All right, Miss Flint-Shindo,” he said, and to his credit, he didn’t put any sarcastic emphasis on her name, “let’s go into the back and talk about what we can do to help you.”
You can’t do anything , she wanted to say. You can’t do anything at all .
But she didn’t say it. Instead, she followed him down the stupid corridor to his stupid office where they had had a stupid discussion just the day before.
He’d get one more day of stupid discussions. One more. And then she was outta here. Because she had no idea how this could help anyone, let alone her.
THIRTEEN
THE POLICE NEVER arrived. The coroner did.
Seng had the prime spot near the door so that she could see Zhu’s body. The ambulance attendants had set up a crime scene perimeter, the first time she’d seen one up close. It was made up of a red light beam that could actually burn if an unauthorized someone tried to cross it.
The attendants reminded her of that as they placed the light in front of the door, warning her and Rosen and Vigfusson that they would have to leave via a different exit as long as the lights were there.
She had nodded at that, and hadn’t moved. She was recording everything, just like Rosen and Vigfusson were.
Two hours after the call and no police. One attendant had taken the ambulance and left on a new assignment, while the other waited impatiently. He contacted the authorities several times and made a disgruntled sound each time he let his hand fall from his ear.
At one point, his gaze met Seng’s and he shook his head. He was angry, too.
She made a note of the name emblazoned across his uniform, the ambulance number (when it was still there), and the licensing information. If this came to some kind of court case, she wanted him as a witness.
Every now and then, she would make sure she recorded his face.
Then she would look down at poor Zhu, his features slack, his skin growing paler and paler by the minute. It just wasn’t respectful to leave him there.
Not that it had been respectful to kill him, either.
“What do you think is going on?” Rosen had whispered to her about ten minutes in.
She shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about anything, at least not aloud, and she didn’t want to have a discussion along links. One of the few motions she had won in the Impossibles had been a motion to download all of someone’s logged link contacts. She didn’t want any discussion that she had with Rosen or Vigfusson to show up on some court’s docket.
The longer she waited, the more her fear decreased. Anger replaced it. She didn’t care what this was about. No one deserved this kind of treatment, particularly not from the authorities.
She had just downloaded AutoLearn for Armstrong’s local laws when the coroner’s van landed where the ambulance had been.
The van was blue and larger than any vehicle she had seen so far on the Moon.
Her eyes lined with tears.
Dammit. She didn’t want the help and she couldn’t stop crying. Maybe some kind of enhancement would be better.
“Talia?” Whatsisname Llewynn (“call me Evando”) said in a tone that sounded even more patronizing than the tone he had used a moment ago.
“Talia Flint- Shindo ,” she said, knowing she sounded bitchy, feeling bitchy, knowing she could get even more bitchy, feeling so very bitchy in fact that he had no idea what was coming at him. “That’s my name. And I didn’t give you permission to call me Talia.”
He smiled at her, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I get the message,” he said. “Your father made you come here. That’s all right, Talia, we can work with—”
“No,” she said, “‘we’ can’t do anything if you don’t respect me. I’m Talia Flint-Shindo, and you need to respect that.”
“All right, Miss Flint-Shindo,” he said, and to his credit, he didn’t put any sarcastic emphasis on her name, “let’s go into the back and talk about what we can do to help you.”
You can’t do anything , she wanted to say. You can’t do anything at all .
But she didn’t say it. Instead, she followed him down the stupid corridor to his stupid office where they had had a stupid discussion just the day before.
He’d get one more day of stupid discussions. One more. And then she was outta here. Because she had no idea how this could help anyone, let alone her.
THIRTEEN
THE POLICE NEVER arrived. The coroner did.
Seng had the prime spot near the door so that she could see Zhu’s body. The ambulance attendants had set up a crime scene perimeter, the first time she’d seen one up close. It was made up of a red light beam that could actually burn if an unauthorized someone tried to cross it.
The attendants reminded her of that as they placed the light in front of the door, warning her and Rosen and Vigfusson that they would have to leave via a different exit as long as the lights were there.
She had nodded at that, and hadn’t moved. She was recording everything, just like Rosen and Vigfusson were.
Two hours after the call and no police. One attendant had taken the ambulance and left on a new assignment, while the other waited impatiently. He contacted the authorities several times and made a disgruntled sound each time he let his hand fall from his ear.
At one point, his gaze met Seng’s and he shook his head. He was angry, too.
She made a note of the name emblazoned across his uniform, the ambulance number (when it was still there), and the licensing information. If this came to some kind of court case, she wanted him as a witness.
Every now and then, she would make sure she recorded his face.
Then she would look down at poor Zhu, his features slack, his skin growing paler and paler by the minute. It just wasn’t respectful to leave him there.
Not that it had been respectful to kill him, either.
“What do you think is going on?” Rosen had whispered to her about ten minutes in.
She shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about anything, at least not aloud, and she didn’t want to have a discussion along links. One of the few motions she had won in the Impossibles had been a motion to download all of someone’s logged link contacts. She didn’t want any discussion that she had with Rosen or Vigfusson to show up on some court’s docket.
The longer she waited, the more her fear decreased. Anger replaced it. She didn’t care what this was about. No one deserved this kind of treatment, particularly not from the authorities.
She had just downloaded AutoLearn for Armstrong’s local laws when the coroner’s van landed where the ambulance had been.
The van was blue and larger than any vehicle she had seen so far on the Moon.
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