They kept the room cold, though considerably less sterile than Sesi’s office.The walls hadn’t been washed in years, if ever.Tornit unspooled a magcable to the Hexaline wall, and the ceiling illuminated just enough that they could make out the filth.
Jute ties bound an older man to a Hexcel chair.Wispy strands of hair vainly trying to cover his balding pate.He had clearly fallen on hard times.Baldness wasn’t really a thing anymore, unless you chose it.Or you couldn’t afford the DocPod bills for more hair.His sallow eyes and greying skin completed the look.
“Tornit, did you do this?”Sesi asked.
Tornit grunted.
“This isn’t proper.A single column tie?On a chair?He’s going to end up with nerve damage like this.What if the chair shifts?”Sesi kicked down at the back leg of the chair, snapping it off and sending both man and chair to the ground.
“See?Look at all the pressure on his arms now?”Sesi picked up the leg, swinging and shattering it across the man’s face.
“The fuck do you want with me?”the man spat thickly.Sesi crouched so that her face hovered centimetres over his, jabbing the splintered edge of the chair leg into his throat.
“My apologies, I’ve been rude.My name is Sesi.”
“I’m supposed to know who the fuck that is?”
“No,” Sesi mused, “You don’t know me.Youdidknow my mother though.”
“I knew a lot of bitc…” The man was cut off by Sesi pressing down on the chair leg.
“This one looked like me.”Sesi drew her hand across her face.
“So what?A DocPod can make you look however you want.”
“She also wouldn’t have had a biosig.”
The man laughed, then coughed as the rope restricted his movement.“Don’t check those in this business.”
Sesi pulled out the ulu.“She also carried this.”
“A weird fuckin knife?”
Sesi removed a finger without much ado.The ulu was so sharp that he didn’t notice at first.When he did, he screamed.Blood ran freely over the filth covered floor.She picked the finger up and put it in her pocket.“I’ll keep this one.I’m sure a DocPod can patch that up for you later.”She paused and then added “If you can afford it.”
“I don’t remember!”the man yelled.“I swear I don’t!”
More weathered fingers fell away, but it only earned her sore ears.She knew this was the man responsible for her mother’s death, but if he couldn’t remember her, whatever happened would be a Pyrrhic victory at best.
“Tornit, would you grab me my PalmInter glove?”
Tornit nodded and left.The man, now fingerless, blubbered pitifully on the floor.
“You know,” Sesi examined her mother’s ulu, “These aren’t really used for this sort of thing.They’re more for skinning.Would you like a demonstration?”
The man shrieked louder.“I swear,” he said through gasping sobs, “I don’t know what you want.”
“Hmm.”Sesi bused.“If I’m being perfectly honest, my mother probably wouldn’t have approved.”
The man sputtered, confusion and pain crossing his face.
Sesi wiped the man’s blood on his shirt.“They can be extremely effective though.A quick slice in the right spot?You wouldn’t even notice it.”
Sesi stared darkly into the weeping man’s eyes.“You and I both know you can’t afford a DocPod to replace all those fingers.What do you think will happen to you if I let you walk out that door?The Styx know you’re here.And the Harpies don’t care enough about you to risk stopping them.”
The man gasped in terror and then fell into a fit of coughing.
“Maybe you’ll be able to run again.Get another job.Maybe in Leto, though I hear they’re less accommodating to runaway embezzlers.”Sesi breathed a low laugh.“But you wouldn’t even be able to hold a spatula to open a noodle shop.”
