Free Broken Wings by Viola Grace Page B

taking me?”
    “Sector Guard Base Teklan. If anyone has a chance of regenerating your wings, it is Reset.”
    She blinked and shook her head. “No.”
    The medic leaned back in surprise and then touched the tank again. “No?”
    “I don’t want them back. They were the same wings that my mother wore and I will keep them off me in memory.”
    “What if you change your mind?”
    “If I do, I am sure that I can beg this Reset to help me. For now, I want to feel their loss.”
    Another staff member came in, but his clothing was a darker hue with striping on it. The medic moved quickly to the newcomer and recounted their conversation.
    The man moved toward her, and she took in his grace and his easy motions as he pressed his hand to the tank. “Good day, miss.”
    She straightened her shoulders and said, “Good day.”
    “I understand you do not want your wings back.”
    She swallowed and tried to explain. She enunciated clearly so he could read her lips. “My wings are gone. Broken. Smashed beyond all recognition. I need to accept that. When I have moved beyond it, I will contact someone and look for help.”
    He cocked his head and he smiled, his bronze skin glowing and his dark eyes smiling. “I understand. You wish to grieve and the loss is a physical reminder.”
    She nodded. “How long must I remain in the tank?”
    “We are delivering you to Morganti tomorrow, and you can remain in it until landing if you like. It is closer than Teklan anyway.”
    She nodded. “My name is, Minerva—”
    He completed her declaration, “Minerva Nhu. Daughter of Commander and General Nhu, heads of the defence force on Decla.”
    She smiled weakly. “Last survivor of the Nhu line off Jela.”
    “But not the last Enjel in the universe. You are not alone.”
    She sighed and pressed both of her palms to the plexi. “But I am the last Nhu of the Decla colony. If I go to Jela, I will be locked in the Aerie and I will have to seek a mate blindly. My family left their home world to give the women in our line freedom, and it dies out in one generation.”
    “You are not dead, Minerva Nhu.”
    She couldn’t say the words in her heart, that she wasn’t alive anymore either. Her state was limbo, and the coldness in her soul was spreading. It was not a good diagnosis.
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    Morganti Base was clean, neat, well organized and surprisingly busy. The base physician met her at the shuttle and helped her out of the tank and into the building.
    He kept his arm low so as not to stress her shoulders as they walked the halls. “Well, this is Sector Guard Base Morganti. We are honoured to have you here. My name is Dr. Nywyn, but you can call me Effin.”
    “Minerva Nhu, but you can call me Minny.” Her voice was hoarse from coughing out the tank fluid.
    “Well, Minny, when you declined Teklan, they asked to bring you here for an assessment. They want to determine if you have an underlying psychic talent that you have not been aware of.”
    They were walking slowly, and a line of children went giggling through the hallway with one of the little girls flicking in and out of view.
    “There are children here?”
    “Yes, the Sector Guard encourages the teams to be made up of mated partners. There is an inevitable result from that interaction if the species are genetically compatible.” He smiled. “And they like to play tag in the corridor.”
    Minny wanted to run down the hall and play with them. She was only two years out of the schoolroom herself. Her introduction to adulthood had been rather aggressive and sudden. One moment she was a cadet, and the next, she was climbing into a mech.
    Effin eased her into the Medical bay and settled her carefully on a bed that had a gel surface to support her back with cool gentleness.
    “Do you get a lot of folk with intensive damage to tissue?”
    “Being a Guardsman is dangerous work. Reset is a great asset to the team, but she can’t be everywhere at the same time. She is only