"I said vegetable broth. Next time, listen to me." Dejah's voice, speaking quietly but ferociously to a wait rat who is cowering behind his whiskers. "Get this out of here. And get me a cup of coffee. Black and strong as you can make it."

Her right hand rests on his metallic arm and she holds her left hand over the wrist cuff. Tiny blue threads of light flicker back and forth between the two.

"Internal temperature regulation, offline. Pain sensors, malfunctioning. Myomer isolate strands, damaged with cold. Repair?" She hesitates as if listening to an answer. "Isolate strand self-maintenance engaged."

She realizes he's awake and she draws in a breath, a radiant smile of relief washing most of the worry from her face. "Hello," she whispers.