Read Tales of the Citadel # 32 - Core Charge for Free Online Page B

cart for me? They will set it up.”

    “Of course. Now?”

    “Please. This is going to take a lot of minute adjustments. I am going to need fortification.” Fixer was grinning and rubbing her hands together. She might be talking of work, but she enjoyed it.

    Gwiette left and went to the dining hall, asking respectfully for a cart for Fixer. With those words, the staff flew into action. Platters appeared and covered every inch of the cart. Carafes of beverages were tucked into small spaces, and when it was finally ready, they nodded and smiled.

    Trundling the cart back to the workshop, those that passed her gave her a smile, which indicated they knew who all the food was for. It was a joke that all of Morganti Base was in on.

    Fixer had laid out the pieces into a shape that was very similar to that of a harp. When Gwiette arrived, Fixer took a sandwich and munched while she stared at the assembly.

    Around her meal, she mumbled. “Now, I just have to get it to do what I want.”

    Gwiette pulled up a stool and watched as the master crafter went to work, connecting and easing the wood into position. The frame seemed to move on its own when they formed the structure.

    Fixer sighed. “Now for the hard part.”

    The food began to disappear as the strings were inserted with the tensioning pegs. Getting the strange strings through the wood was difficult, but after several hours, Fixer held the harp up in triumph. “There we are.”

    Gwiette took it when it was handed to her. “Shall I try it out?”

    “Please. If I need to tune it, I would like to try it now.”

    Gwiette set the harp between her knees and smiled at the familiar pressure. To her surprise, the frame shaped itself to her legs. Blinking, she automatically tucked the instrument in place and ran a scale. To her amazement, the notes rang clear, and the few variations she heard fixed themselves as they faded.

    “Let me try that again.” Gwiette smiled and ran a scale, faster. The notes hung in the air and faded away with the shimmering ring of crystal.

    Fixer sat down and poured tea for both of them. “Can you play something?”

    “I will try. I haven’t been able to play for years. I am a little out of practice.” She settled and flexed her fingers. “It is hard to play a harp when you electrocute those around you when you touch metal.”

    Fixer smiled. “Anything you can do is better than my best effort.”

    “All right. You asked for it.” Her fingers touched the strings, and she lost herself in the music for the first time in a decade.

    It was the first time in years that she felt normal.
     

Chapter Seven

    The next day, she spent the morning stunning volunteers and working her way through the Citadel staff. By the time Stop called a halt, the Healers were sweating and the volunteers were flinching when she looked at them, and Gwiette could stun someone from fifty paces.

    Stop came up to her and said, “Effin will do the transplant if you still want to proceed.”

    “I do. I want to get a grip on this, and holding the power will be the most difficult to master. I need time.”

    He nodded. “Right. Shall we adjourn to medical?”

    “Now?”

    “Now. He is waiting.”

    She didn’t have time to work out a good case of nerves. He walked her past the groaning Citadel staff and into the base.

    To her surprise, the surgery would take ten minutes and involved a small installation at the base of her spine. The longest portion of the work involved extracting the tissue from Nyral.

    Based on what she observed, it was not a comfortable process, but once he had offered up a sample of cells from his hip, Effin sealed him up and completed the preparation of the implant. The compatibility tests had already been run, and now, it was just a matter of getting the implant installed.

    “Open your suit to the hips, put on this gown and lie on your belly, please.” Effin smiled as he worked on the unit.

    She nodded and envied Stop his Masuo