“Sounds lovely.” But even on the chance that I’d be healed by then, I wasn’t sure that I’d be fit for company.

Audrey stood up, putting the last of her tools on the countertop. “One sec.” She slipped out of the room, coming back with a little metal rolling cart. She rolled it next to me, and I glanced down at it. A few types of laser scalpels, plus some pliers, and a vial of gray liquid.

My breath caught.

Nanos.

Shit. Shit. Just shit.

I couldn’t let this happen. I wasn’t going to let it happen. It wasn’t happening. Full stop.

“Okay,” she said, finally looking up at me. “So I’m going to try to cut off these boots as best I can without hurting your feet. I’ll use a laser cutter, which should cover most of this, but some of the clamps on the suit which would normally release easily look melted. So I brought pliers. I’m worried about your feet. I brought the nanos, but if it’s a mild burn, we’ll skip. Okay?”

“She’s got another pair of shoes under there,” Tyler said.

She waved him off. “We’ll deal with those when we get to ’em. One step at a time.” She grabbed one of the scalpels and flicked it on. The blue laser extended an inch beyond the tip of the metal.

She glanced at me. “Hold still. I don’t want to nick you.”

“I’ll do my best.”

It ended up taking her an hour to get my suit off, boots and all. The soles had melted into my shoes, so we ended up cutting around them. I didn’t care. I was just glad to be rid of the suit. I wanted to never, ever get into one again, but I knew what I wanted didn’t matter. Not here.

I was left lying on the exam table in my tank top, shorts, and what was left of my shoes with their foam and outer soles melted together. I was exhausted, sticky with sweat, stinky, and I just wanted this to be over. To take a shower and go to sleep. To be anywhere but here.

Tyler and Audrey were muttering in the corner about how to get them off, but there was no way around it. They were going to have to come off, and some of my skin might go with it.

“Just pull them off.” I was so done. Exhausted and in pain. I wanted this to be over. I wanted everything to be over.

“No,” Audrey said, coming to stand beside me. “I refuse to harm a patient when it’s not necessary. I’m going to cut around the canvas of the sneakers. I’ll leave the soles alone until it’s clear what’s going on there.”