JJ's pencil came down on the shortcut line before the drawer finished brightening it.
The wood covered the words. The drawer glowed around it, offended by the ordinary shape of a pencil doing what a weapon would have made too dramatic.
JJ kept her wrist still.
The file had already taken pieces from Ty and tried to call the theft procedure. If this shortcut taught the room how to keep him alive while using him, he could survive and still lose himself.
"Before anyone calls that helpful, I am marking it dirty."
Zunoder looked at her hand.
"You have no authority to block an item path."
"Good. Then I am blocking it with bad manners."
Omina gave her one glance.
"Give me a basis that survives the joke."
JJ's mouth tightened. The joke had come first because pain made her reach for it, and she corrected course by pulling the pencil back to her own ledger sheet.
