"Oh."

Kate isn't sure how to turn this thing off, so she has to watch the screen and wait until she sees

combustibleCombatant ceased trolling kismetBehest

before she assumes the conversation is over.

She sighs, setting the device aside before her latest coughing jag has a chance to dirty it up, and runs the last few lines of his dialog over in her head, wondering if he was being as mean as he sounded.

"Sure, s'a 'temporary solution' if the other person will actually talk."

No point to it if he's busy.


She debates playing around with it some more, trying to figure out what all the keys are and how they work, and decides she's not feeling up for it. She's not feeling up for much at all. God, she hates being in this room.

She engages in a staring contest with the cats for twenty-three minutes.

(They win.)

And then she thinks screw it, and gets dressed. Outside is on her Do Not Fly list, much to her chagrin. The main bar is as well, due to something called a 'contagion'. So she heads to the library.

Again.

You can never have enough books, right?

(At least there are rules of grammar and actual conversation in them.)


She'll figure out T-minus another day.