Èryuè 2nd 250X

"Wrong colour!" Iskra screamed, making Sirka flinch and drop the stark white synthetic bone that she had been holding.

Sirka sighed wearily before picking up the offending article and depositing it back in the Skeletostruct kit that Akeem had gifted her with the day before.

"I'm building a Zhalocat from the Third Quadrant," Sirka muttered, pushing her data tablet with the downloaded model diagrams over to Iskra. "The spine is made up of the pieces of white bone, look -" she ran her finger across the anatomical illustration onscreen.

The Skeletostruct kit came with thirty different designs of alien animals that one could assemble using the prefabricated bone pieces.

"All the bits of the skeleton are colour coded," Sirka continued, frowning despairingly at Iskra, "I can't build it solely out of the blue ones."

Sirka groaned as she saw the expression on her fractal's face. This was her fifth attempt that day at building something with her birthday present. Every single time, however, Iskra had decided to find fault with the design and raise a highly vocal fuss.

"I'm getting a headache," Sirka snapped frustratedly before reaching out to knock over the basic bits of skeleton that she had already painstakingly constructed. The cyan blue pieces snapped apart easily and scattered across the floor with a despondent clatter.

"Giving up again?" Tasha trilled as she pushed open the bedroom door and appeared with a steaming blue china teapot along with a pale green mug.

Sirka sniffed the air and recognized the pungent scent as D-Tea. A medicated brew that contained important vitamins and minerals such as the now much lacked vitamin D. "Your father will expect to see at least one of those completed creatures at some point," Tasha smiled.

"Colours didn't fit," Sirka babbled out before she could stop herself, scowling at Tasha's responding expression of disapproval. It wasn't like she could help it when she had one of her 'bad' days, when Iskra's ramblings would permeate into her own confused speech.

"Maybe just leave it for today," Tasha told her, moving to clear away the small pieces of plastic bone and slotting them back into their allocated compartments in the Skeletostruct box.

"I told him he should just bring back some more starcraft model kits," Tasha sighed, "you never seem to have a problem with those."

Sirka scrunched up her brow in frustration before rising gingerly to her feet. Her joints ached from having been sat cross legged on the floor all morning. She walked over to her bed and threw back the silken covers.

"Oh no you don't," Tasha scolded, "it's still the middle of the day - you can't go back to bed."

"Places to go, people to see!" Iskra giggled loudly, springing up off the floor and proceeding to march enthusiastically towards the bedroom door.

"My stomach hurts," Sirka lied dully, not bothering to look up and see whether Tasha was taking pity on her or not.

"Well then you need to drink your tea," Tasha stated forcefully, "get something warm to settle in you."

"Cold blood, hot food!" Iskra announced delightedly before running back over and swerving past Tasha right at the last moment. Sirka gasped and stretched out her hand to steady the tea pot before remembering that her fractal had no physical presence.

"Sirka?" Tasha frowned. "You feeling a bit dizzy?"

"Something like that," Sirka mumbled as she sat dejectedly down on her bed and watched as Tasha began to pour out a mug of the pale brown tea.

"Well I suppose it's a good thing that Medic Poulter is coming again today then," Tasha continued, "maybe the higher dose of suppressants is giving you side effects."

"Medic Poulter's visiting again?" Sirka wrinkled her nose and looked questioningly at Tasha. "But he was here yesterday."

"Anyone would think you don't like the man!" Tasha exclaimed, shaking her head. "I mean I know he's a bit 'odd', but aren't most clever men?"

"I wouldn't know," Sirka sighed as Tasha made a responding tutting sound. "Don't let your father hear you say that!" Tasha snorted. "He's one of the cleverest men around."

"Is he odd?" Sirka asked curiously.

"Oh I should say some people think so," Tasha laughed, "I mean he certainly likes everything 'just so', and he can be awfully picky with his food and of course he chose a helixed child..." Tasha trailed off, her face turning bright pink. "But people make assumptions don't they?" she continued quietly, "don't necessarily know the whole story."

"What is the story?" Sirka replied, sitting up slightly straighter and trying to ignore Iskra singing louder and louder in her ear. For some reason she felt that Tasha's answer was going to be somehow very important.

"Eggs!" Tasha cried suddenly, "I forgot to get the Commander's spiced eggs from the market!"

Iskra's out of tune singing quickly dissolved into raucous laughter, making Sirka flinch and nearly spill the tea Tasha had just handed her.

"I'll have to hurry there now," Tasha frowned, standing up and making towards the door. "I should be back before Medic Poulter but if not then I'll get Dabir to come and get you," she told Sirka without looking back as the door fell lightly shut.

Sirka stared at the wall for a few moments before shuffling back into bed. She drew the sheets right up under her chin so as to prevent the shiver caused by Iskra's breath on the back of her neck.

A tight knock on the door roused Sirka from her dream fuelled slumber about an hour later. She rolled over to find that she was thankfully alone, her fractal having disappeared for a blessed while.

"Medic Poulter will be here soon," a gruff voice echoed through the panels. Sirka recognized it as belonging to Dabir, he rarely spent more time in her company that was absolutely required.

"Coming," she called back as Dabir's footsteps on the other side of the door indicated that he was already walking away.

Medic Poulter was sat on an upright chair in the main drawing room when Sirka entered a few moments later. He was wearing his senior Medic's uniform and had most probably come straight from the Medical Centre where he spent most of his time.

"Sirka," he smiled as she approached and settled herself on the chaise-longue opposite. "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm well, thank you," Sirka replied woodenly, the words constructing themselves out of practised habit.

"I thought I'd pop by to give you my present," Medic Poulter told her. The skin around his thin lips stretched perversely as he smiled, folding in on itself like artificial dimples.

Sirka frowned and drew her knees up to her chest with a questioning expression. Medic Poulter had never given her a birthday present before and it seemed strange that it should come a day late.

"I was inspired by our little chat yesterday," he announced, his blue eyes twinkling as if he was about to let her in on a secret, "regarding the Panacea."

Sirka's heart froze, tripping over the hurdles of her ribs in its struggle to burst free from her chest.

"I had a talk with your father after you went to bed," Poulter stated, looking rather pleased with himself, "I thought perhaps I could come and take some blood samples today and we could see if you're compatible for the treatment program? If so, we could get you started on the preparatory drugs course within the next few months."

Sirka opened her mouth to try and formulate words, perhaps even an expression of gratitude. However, speech was not coming easily to her today and so instead she lifted her left arm and rolled up her sleeve.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Poulter chuckled, leaning over and reaching for his Medic's bag.