Karl scowled, but the risk paid off. His eyes lit up, almost as if he were actually Building.
"Okay, I'll bite," he said. "What kinds of things do you Build? This hypodermic? I've never seen one like this."
He held the glass-and-metal device up, and Loretta noticed he held it at the ready. Fingers through the brass loops, thumb on the plunger. Probably something he used every day in his work. No standard-issue medical hypo had a spring-loaded cap over the needle, though, at least not like hers did.
"I didn't Build that," she said. "You might like it for your job, though. A button just under your thumb activates a burst of steam that numbs the flesh. No one ever feels the needle go in."
Karl half smiled, turning the needle end of the hypo, then the plunger, close to his eyes.
"And is e
