IN THE END, IT WAS two days before Cherry could get out of bed. When she walked, she hobbled like someone twice her age. Her knees and hand were covered in thick scabs under their medical gauze, and her pillow was covered with her hair, which had fallen out while she lay recuperating from her near-fatal bout of dehydration. What remained was thin and patches of baldness showed through it.
During her waking moments she’d gotten to know the inside of the medical tent better than she liked. There was nothing for her to do except look around it. She had no interface, and Doctor Zhang had taken out her ear comm, probably concerned about high stress levels impacting her recovery.
The place they’d put her only accommodated two beds. The other one was empty. In her minute examination of the tent
