Elias lay in his pod with the lights low and sleep refusing to land cleanly.
Cube X was safer than the resort. That did not make him feel safe. It only gave danger more doors to knock through before reaching him.
The pod's medical band pulsed against his wrist every few minutes. His bruises had started to fade from pain into stiffness. That should have been improvement. It felt like his body was cleaning up evidence before he understood the crime.
Inside the shard, Dots sat with her legs crossed and watched through the warm connection between them.
"Are you holding together, or are you doing the thing where you pretend the answer is yes because other people are nearby?"
Elias let out a slow breath.
"I am holding together badly, because I do not know enough about the shards, my body, the Doctor, Silas, or you. But I am glad you are here, and I think most of us feel that way about our Ikona even when we are terrible at saying it."
