She gazed down from the balcony to the floor of the museum. Perfectly preserved trees from the Wandering Forest were displayed down the center of the hall, their topmost boughs just short of the floor she was on. Suspended from the ceiling beams were a variety of flying creatures, frozen in midflight. Eva moved down the aisle of displays, looking for a face in the crowd—any face—that was similar to hers in appearance. All that she saw staring back was a myriad of horns, tusks, beaks, and snouts.

She made her way down the impressive grand ramp, pausing at each of the other three floors before she was on the ground level. Weaving in and out of the busy foot traffic, Eva continued her search for another human in the mass. She passed the towering pillar guards standing rigidly as they lined the Great Hall like gigantic supports for the building.

“Please tend to fractured fingers immediately. Thank you,” Eva’s tunic reminded her.

As she approached an impressive display of Orbonian plant life, Eva slipped between the densely placed trunks of forest trees. Slumping down behind a mounted specimen of a wandering tree, she checked to see if she was well concealed from all passersby. With her unharmed hand she activated the Omnipod.

“This is Eva Nine. Initiate Individual Medical Assistance, please,” she whispered. “This is an emergency.”

“IMA initiated. What is the nature of your emergency?”

It hurt Eva to admit it. “I’ve broken my fingers on my right hand.” She recalled Rovender’s warnings about sand-snipers.

“Please place Omnipod over injury,” the device responded.

Eva held the Omnipod over her hand. The central eye became an X-ray, allowing her to look inside her body as she moved the Omnipod around. She could see that the thin bones above the knuckle of her ring finger and pinky were split across the middle.

“Digitus annularis and digitus minimus manus have sustained simple fractures in the proximal region. Accessing HRP utilitunic for splint preparation. Please wait,” the Omnipod said.

Eva poked her head out from behind the mounted tree and realized that in the bustle of the Royal Museum no one seemed to be paying any attention to the human girl hiding in a display.

“Remove reinforced rubberized toe cap from within right sneakboot,” the Omnipod said as it projected a diagram showing how to remove a U-shaped form nestled in the toe of her shoes.

Eva set down the Omnipod and yanked off her right sneakboot, keeping her wounded hand as still as possible. She pulled out the U-shaped toe cap.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ve got it.”

“Place fractured fingers inside toe cap as shown.” The Omnipod illustrated its instructions. Eva followed them.

“Remove cuff from left sleeve of utilitunic,” the Omnipod said. The climatefiber on the left cuff unwove, leaving the cuff free. “Now wrap tightly around toecap as shown.”