"Fifteen min-, yes, that sounds like fiddling all right. I've been here twenty nine days." Her mission to Earth was 'over', although she didn't remember most. Apparently the man she'd gone to hire had gracefully refused, and that was that.
She wondered: what had happened during that lost time? Had she even lost it, or had Stacy just written it out and put it in her head?
"Lock me up? Oh, therapy. No, we have this Fleet tradition, truth-bound telepaths? Anyone who's wearing a ribbon tied on their arm like that is one." She points to a tall purple-and blue fellow with a perpetually solemn face; an elaborate rosette of ribbon was high up on his left arm. "I went in and told my story to the doctors, and they had a telepath on hand to tell them that yes, it was all true - at least to me. And since I could testify that I wasn't going to do anything dangerous like steal a ship and go fight the Ohm or anything, I just - went back on duty, after a few days' rest." A few days of getting Horanckk back up to speed, and that had been amazing.
"No. This is an AI, like Horanckk. He - or she, if that's what she decides to be - can watch over you while you sleep, can tell you if people are whispering behind your back. That casing can be powered by anything electrical, even, say, an electrified wall." She smiled a little nervously. "I - if you want to stay here, that's fine with me. I can get you hired into a safe position, no problem. But - if you are taken away, it would be nice if you have someone to take with you. So you wouldn't be alone."
no subject
She wondered: what had happened during that lost time? Had she even lost it, or had Stacy just written it out and put it in her head?
"Lock me up? Oh, therapy. No, we have this Fleet tradition, truth-bound telepaths? Anyone who's wearing a ribbon tied on their arm like that is one." She points to a tall purple-and blue fellow with a perpetually solemn face; an elaborate rosette of ribbon was high up on his left arm. "I went in and told my story to the doctors, and they had a telepath on hand to tell them that yes, it was all true - at least to me. And since I could testify that I wasn't going to do anything dangerous like steal a ship and go fight the Ohm or anything, I just - went back on duty, after a few days' rest." A few days of getting Horanckk back up to speed, and that had been amazing.
"No. This is an AI, like Horanckk. He - or she, if that's what she decides to be - can watch over you while you sleep, can tell you if people are whispering behind your back. That casing can be powered by anything electrical, even, say, an electrified wall." She smiled a little nervously. "I - if you want to stay here, that's fine with me. I can get you hired into a safe position, no problem. But - if you are taken away, it would be nice if you have someone to take with you. So you wouldn't be alone."