Justin seemed nice enough, but then they always did at first. His offer of assistance, though tempting, sent a jolt of adrenaline through her body. Now she [i]knew[/i] he had been sent for her.

[i]"Yeah, but..."[/i] was the short answer from that annoying little voice in the back of her head; the one that just would not leave her alone. The one that saved her ass countless times. Gut reactions couldn't hold a candle to cold, methodical, ruthless logic. [i]"You need parts and you [/i]know [i]it."[/i]

"Thanks," she offered weakly. "I...don't really have any other computers, so that one's..." She took her time to pick the right words and intonation; too much emphasis and she'd give away just how badly she needed that laptop. "...important." The descriptor was only barely that; . She'd meant it to come out neutral, but it sounded flat, hollow.

It could have been that she was trying to ignore the three feet of bare steel in her peripheral vision. That would explain it. But the voice came back again, criticizing her for being a terrible liar.

[i]"You've fought before and survived. Besides, she's hungry for the naked tentacle monster, not you. Play your cards right and she'll ignore you."[/i]

"The lodge sounds..." her voice cracked when she said "great". It had all the earmarks of a polite dinner guest trying not to gag on an overdone roast. "I should get to work, so I can get all this cleaned up. You wanna lead the way, or what?"

[i]"Not subtle,"[/i] said the voice. [i]You're impatient. You're gonna make them suspicious."[/i]

Sam told the voice to "cram it". Whether they figured it out or not would be wholly irrelevant as soon as her stolen vessel was operational again. That had to happen [i]before[/i] they discovered she was a freak, not after. When you have something somebody wants, they try to take it from you. This group would be no different. Time alone would reveal that.

[i]"That's[/i] if [i]you can even fix it at all..."[/i] This time, the voice of reason had a point.