Naero screamed in terror, shaking beyond her own control.
She toppled out of her mist shower and fell into the junk on her messy floor.
Like a trapped wild animal, she clawed and scrabbled through the refuse, trying to escape her own reflection.
She grabbed her togs and held them to her naked body, curling up with them in a corner.
She held a shaking hand up to her face. She could see it up close.
With all three eyes.
Naero jerked her hand away.
Then she leaned out and peered at herself in her shower’s steamed-up mirror wall.
All three of her eyes blinked back at her.
She pulled her head back, still shaking uncontrollably.
“Oh, shit. Oh, damn.”
It was official. She had fried her brain, and now she was going apeshit crazy, just like Zhen had warned her.
What was even more terrifying was the intense feeling that her new eyeball was even trying to talk to her somehow–with a will of its own.
That was even more nuts, so she did her level best to ignore those impressions.
Naero couldn’t handle it. She’d always been in control. What if she completely flipped out and couldn’t function? What was real any more?
What wasn’t? A hallucination. Of course. It had to be. Nobody just grew another eye in their skull. That was impossible. Temporary insanity. A delusion. Her mind was convincing her that something impossible was really there.
But shit, it all looked and felt so real.
Ignore it. Ignore the new eyeball and it would eventually go away. That was her new strategy. She got dressed.
Looking out of the new eye along with her other two kept freaking her out and even made her a little dizzy at times.
Solution? She yanked out a black headband, tied it on tight and covered the new eye up.
If she wasn’t bonkers, she could swear the eyeball was protesting somehow. She could sense it.
More insanity. At least with the new eye covered up, she felt more like her old, not-crazy self.
The next test. Go out and find one of her friends to show it to. Find out what they saw when they looked at her new addition.
Her fingers shook so bad, it was a while before she could locate anyone on her wristcom. Tyber was the closest one, working with a tek maintenance crew in one of the holds.
She nearly ran up to him, barely avoided slamming into him. She stood a little too close, but she was desperate.
Tyber turned to her, somewhat taken aback. “Hey, Naero. What’s wrong? You look a little panicked. You never panic.” He appeared very worried.
Naero opened her mouth to try to explain, and found she couldn’t speak. Nothing came out. What in the hell could she say?
“Naero,” he said. “You don’t look right. You’re going through a lot. Maybe you should sit down for a bit. I’ll give Zhen a call.”
Naero patted him on the shoulder repeatedly, leaning in.
“Tell me, Tyber. What do you see?” She yanked the headband up for an instant, and then quickly pulled it back down.
Tyber’s mouth fell open. “Uh…”
Naero glared at him, her eyes pleading.
“What am I supposed to see?”
Naero yanked her headband right off, tilted her head up and pointed at her new eye with both index fingers. She stared straight at him with it.
“I…uh. Well, your forehead is a little broken out. You know, Zhen has some cream that will help with that. She uses it all the–”
Naero sobbed, hugged him, and then pulled away and grabbed him by both arms, smiling, shaking him, and almost bawling. She probably scared him even more.
He couldn’t see it. Tyber didn’t see it. The new eyeball wasn’t real. It was just a delusion. Even though it blinked and looked right at her friend.
Naero sat down, laughing in relief, her arms folded across her knees, her head down in them.
It would go away. Eventually, if she ignored it, it would go away. Her brain would heal itself, given time.
Tyber set his tool kit down and knelt at her side.
“Are you sure you’re doing okay, Naero? You’ve been through a lot, and Zhen did say that the strain might flip you out,” he swallowed hard, “a little. You want me to take you back to your cabin? Maybe you should rest for a while.”
Naero grinned and put her headband back on. That made her craziness easier to deal with.
“I’ll be okay, Tyber. I just need some time to heal and sort stuff out. Hey, I’m sorry I bothered you while you were on duty.”
They stood up together.
Even Tyber breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s all right. Are you sure you’re okay, Naero? I mean, you really had me worried for a few seconds there. I’ve never seen you like that before.”
She patted him on the shoulder. “Everything’s going to be all right, Ty. You go back to your duty shift, and I still have to find Aunt Sleak.”
“Okay, if you say so.”
Naero laughed, and they parted. She made her way toward the bridge. If this was temporary insanity–just a delusion–perhaps she could handle it, at least until it passed.