Behemoth Read Online Free PDF Page B

shit-eating appeasement grin from one of the more submissive members of the conquered tribe.
    She knows where Rowan is. That’s not where she’s headed.
    Of course Seger gets there first. An alarm must have gone up the moment Erickson’s settings changed; by the time Clarke reaches the medbay, Atlantis’s chief of medicine is already berating Friedman out in the corridor.
    â€œYour husband is not a toy, Julia. You could have killed him. Is that what you wanted?”
    Swirls of scarred flesh curl up around Friedman’s throat, peek out along the wrist where she’s peeled back her diveskin. She bows her head. “I just wanted to talk to him…”
    â€œWell, I hope you had something very important to say. If we’re lucky, you’ve only set his recovery back a few days. If not…” Seger waves an arm toward the medbay hatch; Erickson, safely unconscious again, is partially visible through the opening. “It’s not like you were giving him an antacid, for crying out loud. You were changing his brain chemistry .”
    â€œI’m sorry.” Friedman won’t meet the doctor’s eyes. “I didn’t mean any—”
    â€œI can’t believe you’d be so stupid.” Seger turns and glares at Clarke. “Can I help you?”
    â€œYeah. Cut her some slack. Her partner was nearly killed today.”
    â€œHe was indeed. Twice.” Friedman flinches visibly at Seger’s words. The doctor softens a bit. “I’m sorry, but it’s true.”
    Clarke sighs. “Jerry, it was you people who built panels into our heads in the first place. You can’t complain when someone else figures out how to open them.”
    â€œThis” —Seger holds up Friedman’s confiscated remote—“is for use by qualified medical personnel. In anyone else’s hands, no matter how well-intentioned, it could kill.”
    She’s overstating, of course. Rifter implants come equipped with fail-safes that keep their settings within manufacturer’s specs; you can’t get around those without opening yourself up and tweaking the actual plumbing. Even so, there’s a fair bit of leeway. Back during the revolution, the corpses managed to coax a similar device into spazzing out a couple of rifters stuck in a flooding airlock.
    Which is why they are no longer allowed such things. “We need that back,” Clarke says softly.
    Seger shakes her head. “Come on, Lenie. You people can hurt yourselves far more with it than we could ever hurt you.”
    Clarke holds out her hand. “Then we’ll just have to learn from our mistakes, won’t we?”
    â€œYou people are slow learners.”
    She’s one to talk. Even after five years, Jerenice Seger can’t quite admit to the existence of the bridle and the bit between her teeth. Going from Top to Bottom is a tough transition for any corpse; doctors are the worst of the lot. It’s almost sad, the devotion with which Seger nurses her god complex.
    â€œJerry, for the last time. Hand it over. ”
    A tentative hand brushes against Clarke’s arm. Friedman shakes her head, still looking at the deck. “It’s okay, Lenie. I don’t mind, I don’t need it any more.”
    â€œJulia, you—”
    â€œ Please, Lenie. I just want to get out of here.”
    She starts away down the corridor. Clarke looks after her, then back at the doctor.
    â€œIt’s a medical device,” Seger says.
    â€œIt’s a weapon.”
    â€œWas. Once. And if you’ll recall, it didn’t work very well.” Seger shakes her head sadly. “The war’s over, Lenie. It’s been over for years. I won’t start it up again if you won’t. And in the meantime—” She glances down the corridor. “I think your friend could use a bit of support.”
    Clarke looks back along the hallway. Friedman has