River reached for the screen to end the broadwave. Her hand trembled with the effort. The screen, in fact the entire room, blurred in and out of focus. She could barely hold herself upright in the seat anymore. The drug was taking hold. -Should lie down,- the thought crept by, oddly rational. She tried to get up from the workstation, but simply slumped out of the chair. She did not feel the impact of hitting the floor. She did not even feel the pain from the bullet in her thigh anymore. The fire alarm and recorded voice swelled and diminished in waves. She managed to roll onto her back, but her pulse pounded in her temples from even that minor exertion. She felt feverish, wished someone was there to press a cool cloth to her forehead. It was so hard to breathe, and she was so tired now. Her eyes closed briefly. She was disconnecting, receding into the background. The part of her which used to be Ariel jerked her back to awareness, though. -Don’t give in,- it demanded. She struggled to rise, but her limbs were disproportionately large and clumsy, like her body was a suit too large for her. -No, it’s not mine anymore,- she tried to stay the resistant part of her. -Just want to sleep. Make it all go away.- If she was crying, she could no longer feel the tears on her face. A fleeting blur of movement by the door caught the corner of her eye. With impossible effort, she rolled her head to the side to look, but her eyelids sagged shut, unable to resist the weight any longer. The rolling blackness behind them rocked like the motion of a ship, soothing. A noise echoed, carrying forever across the vast gulf of space between her and the outside now, but it made no difference what it was. She was numb now. She did not hurt anymore.

“Ai ya… she’s in here!” Matthias Harder shouted over his shoulder when he spotted River’s lifeless body on the exam room floor. “River, can you hear me?” he rushed to her side, feeling at her throat for a pulse. It was barely there. Her chest rose and fell only sp