“We have to help Mr. Kitt, Eva, and we need to hurry,” Muthr said. She held the Omnipod in one hand while she scanned his body with a red laser. “His physiology is entirely different from yours, so I need you to tell me anything he may have said about how he functions internally.”

“He never said anything,” Eva said between gasps. “But I did create a file for him on IMA.”

Muthr opened up his eyelids, revealing dilated pupils. She probed his mouth with two mechanized fingers. “Eva, dear, I need you over here immediately,” she said, her voice calm as she opened a small compartment panel above her wheel casing. While one hand searched for a pulse on Rovender’s thick wrists, another pulled out a corrugated tube and placed it into his mouth.

“What—what are you doing?” Eva asked as she stumbled over to Muthr. As her stupor faded, Eva realized the grave situation. The IMA program was rendering a translucent three-dimensional hologram of Rovender over the Omnipod’s central eye. Muthr studied the flickering charts on the Omnipod.

“We are attempting to resuscitate Mr. Kitt by blowing controlled bursts of air into his lungs,” Muthr said, and tilted his head back. “I will supply the air by using one of my internal cooling fans. To do this, I need you to hold his opercula, or gill covers, shut so that the air will travel down into his lungs. The covers are located underneath his chin, here. Hurry, dear, my hands are full.”

Eva looked down. With Rovender’s head tilted back, a pair of ruby slits were revealed, just under his jawline. They had been hidden by his beard of barbels. Eva placed her palms firmly over the gill covers to close them. She swallowed down the iciness of dread that began to coil into her stomach.

Please don’t die. Please don’t die. Please don’t die.

Muthr blew puffs of air into Rovender’s mouth in two one-second bursts. Eva watched his stomach rise and fall. Rise and fall. Muthr studied the Omnipod and repeated the process.

“Please don’t die, Rovee,” Eva whispered.

“I am doing all that I can, Eva,” Muthr said as she blew the air in again. “He has many organs that are indescribable by the Omnipod. Therefore, I cannot risk cardiopulmonary resuscitation.”

“Please, Rovee.” Eva tried to keep the chill from overtaking her shaking hands. She kept them firm on the lanky creature’s neck. “Please.”

She felt a lurch . . .

. . . and a cough . . .

. . . and Rovender Kitt blinked his indigo eyes.

Muthr pulled the tube from his mouth and returned it underneath her metallic shell. In her cheerful movie-star voice, she said, “Mr. Kitt, welcome back. You gave us quite a scare.”

CHAPTER 37: SIGNAL