Chains of Loss by Robert Page B

was gone .  “I want to make something of the titanium.  I have just enough for what I want…”  He folded it and opened it again.  “Here.”
    Mycah gasped.  The ring that sat in the cloth was exquisite.  She reached for it but Derek pulled away.
    “Careful.  A side effect of this is that whatever I make winds up really hot.  Just so you know.”
    She nodded, took the ring, and studied it.  The metal was formed around a single gem that formed the core of the ring; at any point she found, she could see a sparkle of light that shined between the metal bands.
    “It should fit, by the way.”  Derek was beaming at her. 
    “N-no thanks.”  She wasn’t sure why, but she knew she couldn’t keep it.  She offered it back. 
    “Oh, no, keep it.  It’s special.”
    “I know it is, I just don’t really…”  How would she say it?
    “The gem is actually part of you.  Well, part of the gem is, at least.”  She broke off as he continued.  “Some of your tissues were damaged to the point that replacement was recommended, and not all of your lost blood could be returned.  I had the shroud put it to use here.”
    “I’m…a diamond?”  The thought flashed through her mind only briefly; ruby would have been more appropriate.
    He laughed.  “On the inside, you shine.”
    She studied the ring again.  It was beautiful.  And in his strange, generous way, he didn’t seem to consider accepting it to put her under any kind of obligation.  It would fit under her glove…she swallowed hard and pocketed it. 
    “Anyway, I was saying something.  About the titanium and your bones…look.”  He offered her the cloth.  It appeared white from a distance, but up close she could see that it was streaked with grey.  “I made it a bit more obvious.  Since it’s not using the iron right now – but might later – it reduced it to a form that it can store easily.  I used more than titanium to make the ring; the things I used there, I picked up earlier, including your blood.  Your body – the cybernetics that are becoming a part of you – did the same with the titanium that’s still inside of you.  It’s on your bones for easy storage until the system has a better use for it.”
    “Okay.”  She croaked out the word; her mouth had gotten even more dry.  She needed water, but the things he’d said held her attention.  There were wires of elder metal clinging to her bones.  Elder metal that had been part of a crossbow bolt, that had nearly killed her less than an hour ago.  A crossbow bolt that had doubtless been forged by a human slave, from metal pried from ancient ruins – probably by another slave.  And it was now part of her.  The rest of the bolt was now a piece of jewelry, decorated with her own blood and bone.
    She swayed on her feet as the nausea peaked, then fell.  Derek caught her and she retched.  The world faded away again, but the last thing she thought was a comfort.  I’m here, and I’m not going to leave you.
     
    ***
     
    Derek wiped off his suit with the shroud, wondering what had gone wrong.  She’d seemed a little off, but she should be fine.  He mentally prodded the mediceps and asked it what was wrong with her.
    The blood loss from her injury had not been replaced.  She was going into hypovolemic shock and would die within minutes if untreated.  He went into full rush.
    How had this happened?  She had lost about a half-liter of blood to the injury.  That wasn’t much for him, but she was smaller than he was.  It still shouldn’t have brought her down to a level where shock would be a serious risk.
    He pulled up records of the transplant.  He’d been mostly focused on soft tissues during the procedure; he hadn’t examined her system beyond what had been necessary to put everything in motion.  Her hemoglobin level at the time of the transfer was only nine.  Twelve was normal.  He delved deeper.  Her blood was critically low on iron. 
    His gut clenched