Zendyne, page 169 by Han Li Thorn
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e wasn’t in its usual place — she’d evidently been re-arranging his things — but fortunately it was switched on and when he called for it, a closet door banged open and the trunk jerked its way out. He filled it with her clothes.
What else would she take?
Her ‘deck, perhaps, and the things from her bedside table. He crammed them all into the trunk, stuffing pictures between folds of cotton and silk and cashmere. One of the holograms caught his eye: Xia Lin with Mr. Lee, evidently at some corporate function. Xia Lin looked bright-eyed and feverish, almost as if she were unwell. She had draped herself around Mr. Lee’s neck.
He studied the picture carefully, trying to come to a true understanding of what she was doing, and why.
It was a mystery, and one he was unlikely to solve without help from Back Office. If only he’d retained more of Xia Lin’s essence, or at least spoken to her for a little longer.
Stranger shrugged. It was too late now. He told the luggage to follow closely, then scooped up the specimen box and went to the door.
It was time for his appointment with the eye surgeon. While he was under the knife, Back Office would be busy, reassigning Xia Lin’s employment status to ‘terminated’.
After that, it would be time to pay a visit to this mysterious underground complex that was so welcoming to ex-Zendyne employees.
19
At last it came to an end: the nightmare of floundering and failing, of slipping beneath an icy tide that lapped around the roots of a dark tree while the thing that had been Sooz sputtered and went out.
She opened her eyes and found herself lying under soft sheets, in a room filled with the glow of monitoring equipment and the gentle hum of machines. This must be a hospital, she thought. She was unexpectedly warm and perfectly dry, dressed in some kind of paper coverall. Carefully, she breathed. Her lungs were fine. She hadn’t drowned after all.
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