Oct 6, 2015

 “I can't just let you take a patient to your room, Lieutenant,” said Carina.

“Better that he be a vegetable, here?" Erin asked. "Just lying here, with no one knowing what to do? I think I can help him, Carina. Let me help him.”

“What is it with you?” Carina asked, crossing her arms.

“I feel things, Carina. More acutely than you, or anyone else.”

Carina exhaled so that her lips fluttered. “You haven't met Tuah.”

“Captain, be serious, damn it. I'm an empath. A low-level telepath. I can't read thoughts, but I can sense what people actually feel. It's like one big bullshit detector and it's horrible.”

“I bet.”

“And what's especially horrible is that Rivetti. I've met a lot of malignant people, people who are almost irredeemable, but almost all of them had some kind of redemptive quality. All Rivetti wants to do is hurt people. I've never encountered feelings so black.”

“You grew up on Venus, didn't you?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“Welcome to Earth.”