Taz spoke to the group. “We’ve got a med capsule coming for Instructor Nadryer. In the meantime, can I send your names and ping refs to the town’s Emergency Response Command?” She held up her gauntlet percomp and set it to record. “They’ll get posted to the regional status hub so if anyone’s looking for you, they’ll know you’re okay.”
One by one, they spoke their information. Unsurprisingly, the bronze-haired man turned out to be the father of the teenager and the toddler and cohab to the toddler’s mother.
Taz looked at their bare feet. “Stay there a second while I collect your shoes. The airsled can’t carry you all, so a couple of you will have to walk, and the entrance area has a lot of broken glass.”
The lavender-skinned intersex person in the group laughed sardonically. “I hope it’s that ugly-ass monstrosity from RSI that was supposed to represent Perlarossa as a pearl in a cosmic clamshell.”
“Yes,” said the Russian-accented, green-haired woman in flowing, summery clothes that Taz envied. GSAR’s distinctive yellow and red uniforms were flexin-armored and tough as incalloy, but not cool or comfortable. “But not as ugly as the company that would have stolen all our family compounds if it could.”
Taz gathered all the footwear she could find and let the group sort them out. The toddler refused to wear hers and threatened a tantrum. A few moments after Vangeli activated her empath talent, the little girl settled down and let her brother help her.
For several seconds, the room lights flickered, and the subtle sounds from the air vents stuttered.
A shadow crossed Vangeli’s expression. “That shouldn’t have happened. This building has its own independent power source. It’s one of the reasons we chose it.”
Keeping her own concern off her face, Taz pointed to the business’s wide-open front door. “We’ve already cleared the path, and we’ve got floodlights, even if the emergency lighting fails.” She turned to the rest of the group. “Did any of you see anyone else in the building this morning before the earthquake?”
The adults shook their heads, but the teenager spoke up. “When I was in the hall with Hermanita, a girl in a big coat asked me where the lifts down to the basement storage units are. I told her.”
“What time was that?” asked Taz.
The boy shrugged. “Zero-five-fifteen? Hermanita quit fussing, so we went back inside.”
Taz didn’t know much about the boy, but she was impressed that he was up and awake at that hour. At that age, she’d needed at least ten hours of sleep, and mornings had been torture.
She used her controller implant to tell her suit to scan in the direction of the lifts. The architectural plans hadn’t even hinted that the vague “basement storage” label actually meant individual units that could be rented or accessed any time.
Unfortunately, from her current location, the lifesign scans were inconclusive because of the denscrete construction and the damned incalloy. Turning her back on the group, she pinged Rylando and subvocalized what she’d learned.
“Trade places with me. I’ll send the team out for a quick scouting mission while you get our wounded into the floater. I already asked Hatya to find out about the building’s power situation.”
Movement outside the entrance caught her eye. “Floater just arrived. I’ll bring it in now.”
The capsule was about the size of her mech suit, so it fit through the storeroom’s doorway, but with little room to spare.
When Rylando stood and strode out, Shen looked torn, like she couldn’t decide whether she should follow him or stay with the injured woman.
“Go on, Shen,” Taz said quietly, pointing toward the door. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”
It was probably just coincidence that Shen barked as if in response, then took off to catch up with Rylando.
As Taz knelt, the woman caught her eye. “Sorry I’m such a stinking mess.”
Someone had put a sweater under the woman’s head for a pillow. The source of the smell stained the front of her cloud-patterned blue tunic.
“You’re fine. A little vomit isn’t too bad. The capsule will neutralize the smell.” Taz smiled gently as she picked up the scanner that Rylando had left out by the medical pack. “I’m Subcaptain Correa, by the way. You’re Instructor Nadryer?”
“Yes.” Tears fell from the woman’s eyes. “I’m a terrible example for my students.”
“I’m pretty sure they’ll understand.” She checked the scanner’s readings on her patient’s injuries. “I can’t lift you without causing you pain. I’d like to give you a quick-acting pain patch first.”
Nadryer shook her head. “No, no, they don’t work on me. My talent...” More tears fell. “I should never have tried to slow that block. Exhausted myself and tripped in the hole. No energy left to heal with, and now I’m blowback sick. I just wanted to save our really expensive floor. Stupid.”
If the woman had been using her talents, Taz might have realized sooner that she must be a multi-talent minder. “You don’t have to answer, but are you a sifter? I can use a neural pain block instead. Invasive because of the microneedles and takes a little longer, but no brain chems involved. You’ll lose sensation below the waist.”
“Yes, do it.” replied Nadryer. “Is it against GSAR rules to use your sifter talent on me? I feel like I’m on a neuro thrill ride. It’s making my pain worse, too.”
Taz blinked at the woman’s matter-of-fact request. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”
Nadryer gave a watery sigh. “Fucking CPS. Why even hire minders if they won’t let them work?”
Taz slipped her hand under Nadryer’s back to center the neuro block over her cervical spine. Maybe because of the skin-to-skin contact, she thought she could sense the imbalanced neurotransmitters and the flailing receptors. Sort of like a subtle version of the haze of impending violence, but chaotic, like misfiring electrical nodes in a tech circuit.
On impulse, Taz leaned closer and lowered her voice. “I can’t help because I don’t know how. Besides, I’m low-level at best.”
Nadryer’s eyes widened for a moment. “Whoever told you that was full of shit.” Her expression softened as she studied Taz’s face. “Want a quick lesson? We advertise meditation classes, but what we really do is train minders. The CPS’s methods don’t work for everyone.”
Taz had no idea there was such a thing as private minder tutoring. “Thank you, but not right now. You need all your energy for yourself.”
A weak smile played on Nadryer’s face. “I wouldn’t be spending the energy, you would. Healers can sometimes work on themselves, but sifters can’t. Like trying to tickle yourself.” A moment later, she sighed again. More tears flowed. “Ah, that’s better.”
The relief on Nadryer’s face told Taz the neuro block finally kicked in. She grounded and opened the capsule right next to Nadryer so it wouldn’t skitter away like a cat that wanted to be admired but not touched.
Nadryer’s forehead wrinkled. “Wonder what happened to my boots?”
“Instructor Vangeli has them.” Taz slid a fat safety strap from the capsule under the woman’s waist and hooked it around her. “I’m going to lift and slide you into the capsule, rather than roll you in. It’ll help if you cross your arms tight and keep your back strong instead of saggy.”