[Verse 1] "It goes almost all the way up," Hunter said quietly, "stops just between my shoulder blades." She turned to Jesse, who still stood in silence, and smiled a knowing, sad smile, "want to see the rest of it?" "Oh my God, NO," Jesse stammered. She hadn't realized she was staring, silently, at the scar. "I'm so sorry," she sputtered, "I mean, I didn't mean to,... your shirt just rode up and..." [Verse 2] She lowered her eyes, "It looks like it hurt." "Just for a minute," Hunter replied, "and then I couldn't figure out why I couldn't move, or feel anything." Hunter continued stacking the supplies, "I was on a construction team putting together a colony on a new outpost. We were attacked by pirates..." [Verse 3] "Pirates?" "Kind of like thieves. They attack people who don't look like they can defend themselves, take all their stuff, leave only bodies." "They killed?..." Jesse was shocked. (Why?) "everybody but me, and that was just a fluke. I should have died like the rest, but I was lucky," she pushed the container onto the rack, "or unlucky. We weren't actually who they were after. They just used us to bait a rescue operation. THAT was who they were going to rob." [Verse 4] "Does it hurt? My knee just hurts sometimes for no reason. I can't imagine what that must feel like." "Not very often," Hunter looked at the younger woman and smiled, "The bones of the vertebrae are all synthetic, and so is about half of the spinal column. The only place it hurts is just above my hips, where the natural bones meet the ceramic ones." Jesse picked up one of the containers and slid it onto the storage rack, "I guess I have to stop imagining that I'm the only person on board with any trauma." she muttered under her breath. "Don't get hard on yourself," Hunter said, "We've all done it. Everyone aboard this old ex-pirate ship is damaged in some way. All left ugly scars, some you can't see. [Verse 5] Jesse was incredulous. "Everyone," Hunter confirmed, "I've been attacked by Pirates, left for dead, Jaime was a military pilot who had his ship crushed in an asteroid field, lost his left arm to the elbow, didn't realize that, did you," she smiled. "No," Jesse answered, "I didn't notice at all. He's got a robot arm or something?" Hunter nodded. "What about Sheldon?" "ah," Hunter sighed, "knew you'd ask about him. First of all, don't EVER call him that. He won't talk to you for days afterwards. I'm not sure what Spook's Thing is. But if I had to guess, I'd say he's been spaced." [Verse 6] "Spaced?" "Sorry, forgot you're not familiar with all this," Hunter's expression softened a bit, "You really have adjusted amazingly. Spacing is a form of execution. You put someone into an airlock while you're in space and then open the outside hatch. You can survive in the vacuum of space for a few minutes, but I understand it's a horrible, painful way to die. Spook won't go near the airlocks while we're underway, so I figure that had to have something to do with it." "You don't know," Jesse asked, "can't you just read his mind and find out?" [Verse 7] "Ha, Ha, No," Hunter laughed, "my sense doesn't work like that. I can only 'hear' thoughts when someone is thinking to themselves, or tryin to lie about something. I can't burrow into someone's mind." She paused, "Even if I could, that would be a serious breach of trust. Sometimes I can hear dreams, if someone's having nightmares, but that's a different experience entirely. More like feeling their emotions than hearing their thoughts." [Verse 8] "Oh, sorry," Jesse looked down at the container she was lifting into the storage. Then she looked up suddenly, "wait, you said 'aboard this ex-pirate ship,' you mean, Like the one that attacked you on the outpost?" "Not like it," Hunter's grin could almost be seen in the dark, "This is the very one."
