With Kay off salivating over her bows in the HAS, Jon left the helm on the bench and went next door to medical.

Ril was, as promised, shoulder-deep smeared in blood. Switched out of her heart-attack clothes she wore far more appropriate scrubs and a necessary apron.

“Ah, Bones covered in blood. What a vision to behold!”

“Kel! What can I do you for?” She made ‘serial killer’ look real sexy.

“I need to measure you up. Hold still this won’t hurt a bit.”

“That’s my line,” she pouted “You know, most diver’s would be crooning at their patron’s every beck and call.”

“Yeah, if I had an actual patron, I’d probably have to do the same. I hate to admit it, but we all have our price. That’s why I flatly rejected the lot. How many of them were you, I wonder?” He strolled over as he spoke.

“And what’s your price, Kel?”

“Don’t play a game you can’t afford to lose, and value the valueless.”

“Don’t you mean priceless?”

“Mmm,” he didn’t, “but to answer your point. You’re not my patron; you’re my Sawbones. Alpha or not, I’m your boss.”

“I don’t mind being a bottom,” she cocked an eyebrow.

“Right now, I just need you to stand still,” said Jon.

“No problem. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?”

He ignored that as he moved behind her, bloodied and all, with a tape measure to get a few sizes, noting them on a pad. “You could come back down with another body, you know. I can’t stop you.”

“Yes, I could. But it would cost me something, wouldn’t it? The ‘valueless’ as you say.” Ril turned her head to the side, glancing back at him.

Maybe this neo-junkie was getting it. Or perhaps Ril found her fix already. Either way, he could work with it.

“Look forward again, thanks." After five minutes blissful minutes without flirting, he was satisfied. "Done ty, good job. What’s the tub for?”

There was a body-size stainless steel bathtub on wheels, a new addition to his medbay.

“Nutrient bath for Mr Finger. I can give you a week at most. Why must he be disembowelled?”

“Need him as light as possible, but cosmetics still matter.”

“What are you going to do? My knees quaketh in anticipation.”

“Boy’s gotta have his secrets too.”

“Oh, you've plenty already. In the interest of ‘reciprocation’, mind if I scan you?” She took the chance to remove the apron and wash up.

“Fine,” he drawled and stripped down to his underwear, climbing on the scan bed.

“If only it were this easy to get you out of your clothes in other locales.”

“Get it done Doc. Both you and I have work to do.”

She initialised the machine. It clicked and whirred as it traversed slowly over his body. Jon utilised the time to run through a few design concepts in his head while he waited.

Ril broke the silence, “so you train in magic meditation in the morning, right? Can I join?”

“You will join, that’s an order, not an offer.” Chain of command was actually pretty FUBR in this case. “Please?”

“Jon, you have to pick a position. You can’t just switch mid-stroke.”

He swept his eyes sideways to see her at the console.

A devilish smile broke on her features as she returned the gaze.

Maneater was nowhere near adequate to describe this beast.

“So I get to train with the world-famous mage: Jonathan Kelly! I can’t wait!” She sucked in a breath in anticipation, after which she returned to the monitors. “If you’re wondering what I’m looking at, it’s your nerve innervation. The degree to which nerves spread through your body. I’ve noticed a minuscule increase in density in mine. Almost impossible to detect were it not that I know this body’s composition down to the cell: recent print and all.

“Kay’s were quite dense on her first scan, but there’s no way of knowing if that’s just morphogenic for elves or her in particular. Mr.Finger was nothing to write home about, so you are my next best comparative. We have an extensive medical history on you after all.”

The scan finished, and Jon redressed.

Ril went to her office and retrieved two items while he finished up.

One was a clear zip seal bag containing ten shiny metal cylinders, a little larger than shotgun slugs. They had robust mounting loops on each end. Essentially, short, steel bars with a circular washer welded edgewise—if the washers were coins standing on end—on the two flat faces. Each was a single machined and polished piece with no outwardly visible moving parts.

The other was an unadorned box with a power cable, lifting handle, some knobs, and dials. It looked akin to a welding power supply. “Can Doctor give a lollipop to the very good little boy?”

“I’m not little.”

“Oh hush, there’s no need to be so self-conscious. I’m sure you work just fine with what you’ve got.”

“Fine, I’ll bite. What it is?”

“They’re plasma chambers, my fiery one.”

“Fuck yes, Ril. I hadn’t thought of that yet.” He had much lower standards for his magical progression compared to Kay’s. Playing with pretty lights and pyromania was the extent of his studious dabbling.

“You lie, Kel. I’m sure you did, but the problem with plasma is that no one makes it just to have it. I couldn’t have my man walking around glowing with fluorescence now could I. Glowing in the dark is my job.”

Shaking her head in a demonstration, cascading violet shimmers ran forward and backwards in her pixie-cut. “Plus broken glass isn’t that fun outside the bedroom.”

Jon removed and inspected one cylinder. They were not over-engineered but still weighed as much as a kiwi—not the bird or the people, but the fruit. Kiwis are really kak to use as comparatives, aren't they; I can see why bananas are a prefered universal measure. They look like penises too, just another point in their favour. Kiwis are hairy and round—again the fruit mostly. Where was I?

“Stainless steel?”

“Three layers with the mid-layer being a lead jacket. We have to keep those future Jons safe from stray x-rays, My Sweet. The electrodes are piped in via rift; you can leave the power supply plugged in here and use them world-side. The tech is pretty standard 21st century fair, but I designed and fabricated them myself.”

“Gas and pressure?”

“Air at one atmosphere.”

“So it’s cold plasma, like fluorescent bulbs then?” Such plasma was no real trouble for him; it was what he was playing with most of the time. Now, to test! He grinned.

“That it is.”

“Thanks, Rilian, this is really…” choking the next word out, “kind of you.” Who was he kidding she probably had an angle. Ril was all about angles in all the right places.

“So I did good, Boss? Can I get a kiss?” She tapped a cheek.

He gave the briefest of pecks and scurried off with the stuff. As it was, he felt tremors running down his spine; maybe she laced her sweat glands with Ecstasy or something. You can never be too sure with Alphas. “Cheers! See ya at morning practice.”