The wound on my chest smarted as I reached for the controls. A human would’ve needed stitches for such a deep gash, but my skin had already begun knitting itself back together overnight. In the noonday sun, it looked like a week’s worth of healing had happened in only twelve hours. I disengaged the autopilot and began my approach. The safety harness gave no purchase and restrained my chest, causing the abraded skin to protest.
I wasn’t used to pain. It was such an infrequent experience in my long life. I’d heard women talk about how men could never handle childbirth or menstrual cramps. I didn’t have a menstrual cycle, which meant I would never have children, but also that I’d never experience either a cramp or a contraction. Hell, I’d rarely experienced a paper cut. So a wound along my t
