Cinder(21)

ID

#0097917305

B

ORN

29 N

OV

109

T.E.

0

MEDIA HITS

R

ESIDENT OF

N

EW

B

EIJING

, E

ASTERN

C

OMMONWEALTH

. W

ARD OF

L

INH

A

DRI.

Li opened the door to the lab. Tucking the stylus back behind his ear, Dr. Erland entered the room with twitching fingers.

The girl was lying on the table on the other side of the viewing window. The sterile quarantine room was so bright he had to squint into the glare. A med-droid was just capping a plastic vial filled with blood and plunking it onto the chute, sending it off to the blood lab.

The girl’s hands and wrists had been fastened with metal bands. Her left hand was steel, tarnished and dark between the joints as if it needed a good cleaning. Her pant legs had been rolled up her calves, revealing one human leg and one synthetic.

“Is she plugged in yet?” he asked, slipping his port into his coat pocket.