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((The Wednesday Triple: page 1 of 3))
‘Ah--are you alright?’ Hector asked.

‘Dandy,’ the reaper said. ‘A bit surprised, though. What the hell was that weapon?’

‘I was gonna ask you that.’

‘Ugh,’ said Garovel. ‘Y’know, when I said I loved seeing new technology, this isn’t what I had in mind.’ Black and white smoke had begun to rise from the hole in his ethereal body--an indicator that it was very slowly repairing itself, Hector knew.

Hector, remembering that heat was leaking into his suit and cooking him alive, decided to just patch the hole in the chest with iron.

‘You’ve got a hole in back, too,’ said Garovel.

And he heard the clamor of his refrigeration unit abruptly stop.

‘Oh. Good.’

‘Uh... am I just fucked now?’

‘Pretty fucked, yeah. But, hmm. Let’s see here. Hey, Asad!’

Axiolis and Qorvass were already hovering toward them with their respective families following.

‘Having trouble?’ said Axiolis.

‘Do we have someone who can repair this thing?’ asked Garovel.

Qorvass inspected the damage. ‘Ooh, I do not think so. This looks quite bad.’

‘Does it?’ said Garovel. ‘The hole’s not that big, though.’

‘Yes, but it pierced the battery.’

‘Mm. Did we bring a replacement?’

“Yes, of course,” said Asad. “I told the Duxans to load up several spares just before we left. I made sure to...” He drifted off as his expression shifted into one of recollection. “Actually, no... I never did do that, did I...?”

‘Asad, please don’t tell me you forgot,’ said Qorvass.

And to his credit, the Lord Najir didn’t tell him.

‘Argh! I asked if you’d forgotten anything important right before we left!’

“...I remembered my luggage.”

‘And, what?! You consider that progress?!’