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" ‘I like it when you lose consciousness’ is just what every girl likes to hear," I said blandly

"Hey" Nathan walked across the rooe of the bed "Try ‘I like it when you survive’ on for size, okay? We’ve coood You know Fang from SymboGen, and I know Daisy"

I blinked "You do?"

"I do" He nodded "She went to grad school with me, believe it or not I had an enormous crush on her for about a year, before I et if you gave a grizzly bear a shave and a Brooks Brothers suit But he’s a very nice o I sent the I don’t knohy people always put toasters on their registries, but they do, and I just wanted to buy one for a change" He sounded oddly wistful as he talked about the toaster, like it had somehow become the symbol of a si, because otherwise, ould he buy toasters for?

I was starting to be quietly convinced that the ti to an end Nathan looked so sad that I didn’t want to coerous question: "Does he work here too?"

"Who, Daisy’s husband? No, he’s working overseas He’s in teleco--soed "Once you take the ‘bio’ out, I lose interest in technology pretty quickly It’s my shameful little secret"

"It’s not that secret" I sat up a bit straighter on the cot "Where are the dogs?"

"Adam has them They both like him a lot Beverly’son every flat surface she could find They’re going to be fine while we’re at the hospital"

I nodded "Good" Carefully, I swung led about a foot above the polished wood "How are we getting me there?"

"Fang’s acquiring an aht face

"U’?"

"I didn’t ask I was afraid Mom would tellherself into the rooe for you, Nathan I’ve got the ad paperwork for Sal all prepared, and it links back to one of my less public identities, so if anyone calls to confiriti hospital records as we speak By the ti all the way back to your first temp job"

"Who’s Fishy?" I asked blankly "Is that a person?"

"His naoes by ‘Fishy’ because when he first came to work for me, I had a Matthew and a Matt already in the office He proposed using his old ga handle, and I said it was fine, since it’s not profane or otherwise inappropriate It’s easier to explain who’s been injured in the explosion when you don’t have to keep backing up and clarifying which of the five people with that name you don’t ether in her lap, tension showing in the way her fingers interlaced "Once you get to the hospital, they’ll transfer you onto a surgical gurney Now, Sal, it’s important you remember that you shouldn’t need to talk iven the circumstances You would normally be expected to answer questions before you could enter a surgical theater, but we’re shortcutting that process as much as possible, and anyone who checks your charts should see that you answered the standard questions before you had to be sedated to prevent seizure"

"Do people really try to have conversations with patients who are in the hospital to have their heads cut open?" I asked blankly

"They’re not going to cut your head open, exactly," said Dr Cale "Most of the ill be done by lasers and by er than the head of a pin It’s not the nanotech that ere promised when I was in school, but I’ll take it"

"Moly

Dr Cale held up her hand "Sorry, I’ot distracted for a second there The actual incision won’t even be as bad as that bite on your arm, Sal--which we flushed with saline and stitched up while you were unconscious, by the way It should heal much faster and cleaner this way You didn’t lose that much blood, thankfully The problem seems to have been mostly related to the impaired blood flow to your brain"

"Uuess what Ito have to answer questions? I’ery Even if there’s not a lot of cutting going on, you’d think that s"

"Actually, ittheater to make sure you’ve consented to the operation, and that the operation you say you’re having rim note in his voice startled hed "You remember how there are some aspects of my job that I don’t like to talk about? Well, this is one of them"