Page 16

16

SYLVIE

“ W hy are you really here?” Rave asked. They were sitting on his small deck looking out at the skyline. It wasn’t a great view, but the breeze was nice.

“What?” Sylvie rebutted. “You don’t believe I got the crap kicked out of me?” Her stitches had been removed and the scar around her face was bright white.

Rave watched her quietly.

“The makeup wasn’t good enough, right?”

Rave continued seriously. “Taylor was a jerk, and I buy he’d do something stupid, but I didn’t think that the hospital would be so ill prepared for your transfer.”

“I couldn’t stay on the ship after what happened. How the fleet handled it,” she shrugged, “I don’t know, I’ve not been through it before.”

Rave narrowed his eyes. She was hiding something, he knew it. “Are you still in trouble?”

“I have to be part of the trial.”

“And then it’s over?” Rave gauging the length of the lie.

“It should be.”

“And you’re gonna tell me what this was all about?”

“Does it have to be different than what it looks like?”

Rav leaned toward her, “You just confirmed it.” He rose to go back inside, “I’ve been trained to see it and I don’t like it on you.”