Free Perfect by Viola Grace Page B

her.
     
    * * * *
     
    Brex looked at the damaged creature regenerating in the tank. With his body on Lrrko and his mind in the Familiar, he could only inhale and exhale slowly on the slab and press his metal palm against the tank.
    Her history had been laid out for him. The damage had been a side effect of being a hero when a man tried to attack his ex-lover with a large container of acid. She had shoved the other woman aside and taken the brunt of the burn that had worked through flesh and into muscle.
    She had been taken to the edge of life, but she survived. Brex admired that. When he had been matched with her, he had researched her preferences, and he felt he would be a good caretaker. He didn’t envy Leko for dealing with her sister. Easing Tyanni through her recuperation was going to be simple in comparison to dealing with Lynni’s tongue.
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    When her lips came back, she knew she was close to being finished. Her hair had already been fluttering around her in a dark cloud, so her time in the tank must be nearing completion.
    Ty noticed her eyelashes the same day that the doctors told her she was ready to emerge. Brex climbed to the top of the tank and lowered his hands in. Ty looked up at his warped image through the liquid, and she lunged upward, grabbing his hands with hers.
    He hauled her out and massaged her back as she threw up the liquid that she had been breathing for a few weeks. When she had coughed up what was in her lungs and thrown up the rest, Brex uncoupled her leads and carried her down to the med team waiting to remove the inserts.
    Brex held her hand while they pulled and sealed all the holes they had made in her to start with.
    Ty was grateful that he was a bot. He had watched her development and intimate exams while the physicians worked her over. He was definitely familiar with her by now.
    When the scans were over and she was dressed in a medical tunic, Brex picked her up and carried her out of medical with the promise to bring her back the following day.
    She was going to argue that she was strong enough, but she hadn’t done much cardio in the last two years. This wasn’t the time to get up and fall on her face.
    Her throat was raw, but she asked, “Can you take me to see Lynni?”
    He paused, turned and walked back down the hall to a smaller lab that held a tank and another Familiar.
    “Lynni did not have an easy time during the alteration. Leko identified her distress and got medics in in time.”
    Ty looked at her sister, pale and floating in the tank. Well, she was partially pale, partially hot pink.
    “Bring me to the tank, please.”
    Brex stepped forward, and Ty pressed her hand to the tank. Ly’s eyes opened, and she smiled. Her hand pressed against the interior of the tank and her other hand pointed to Ty.
    “I know, I look great, right? You, on the other hand, look like you are caught between blush and mortification. What happened?”
    Ly opened her mouth to talk and nothing came out. She tried to stamp her foot, but there was nothing under it.
    Leko turned slowly. “The compounds used to activate her genetics into a more stable form had the effect of altering her pigmentation. She is now two-toned for life.”
    Ly tapped her chest and smiled.
    “No, Ly, it was not your turn for funny skin. It looks surprisingly good. Your hair got paler.”
    Ly grinned and fluttered her fingers down her body.
    “Yeah, they managed to grow my hair out as well. Well, you get some rest. I am going to do the same.”
    She leaned against Brex’s chest and waved farewell as he carried her down a hall and to her quarters.
    He opened the door and walked inside with a smooth gait. The early thudding that she had first heard must have been to let them know that the bots were coming.
    “Do you have questions?” He settled her in the bed and arranged the sheets over her.
    “Why do we have Familiars? I mean, why are you here?”
    Brex hunkered down next to her, and his cameras