For All TimeSam was away in the highG probe when Corva emerged from her torpor. It took a few moments for his absence to register. Had he said something about leaving the station? Perhaps. Azurite torpor wasn't like human sleep. Although she'd only been unconscious for an hour it went much deeper, approaching total biological shut-down. Always took time for her brain to sort itself out.
It was an old joke between them. Sam could wake and be up and about in minutes. For her it was another hour, or more, before she could string words together. One of many differences between their species. Another thing they'd adjusted to, laughed about, in sixty years of being together. She wasn't, strictly speaking, even a she. Such things were more fluid for an Azurite. This was simply how they'd arrange
