“How badly are you hurt?” Sir asked, when he got me back to the ship. He laid me gently down on the bed and sat beside me as he waited for my answer. His mouth was tight and he still looked angry—though at least his eyes had gone back to full-black instead of white or silver.
“I…I don’t know,” I mumbled. The entire left side of my face felt swollen and hot and I still tasted blood when I talked. “He slapped me,” I explained, pointing to the hurt part of my face. “And choked me—trying to get…get the collar off.”
Sir closed his eyes briefly and breathed deeply, inhaling through his nose. I thought he looked like a man who was counting to ten to try and control his temper. At last he opened his eyes again and nodded at me.
“I’ll synthesize some healing wraps,” he said and got up.
“Wait,” I called hesitantly as he reached the doorway. “Sir, I don’t…don’t know how much you know about how…how he caught me. I just…”
I trailed off when he turned back, his eyes flashing from full-black to full-white for just a moment.
“I know everything.” His voice was a low, rumbling growl. “But we will not speak of it. Not yet.”
Then he walked through the doorway, leaving me on the bed, wondering if I was about to get crumpled up like the metal gate back in the spaceport.