The concentrator woke Caleb before his mother called him. Its hum caught on a lower note before climbing again through the bedroom wall.
Daylight showed around the curtain. Suzu lay on the outer edge of the mattress, awake, with her braced left leg stretched along the frame. They had gone to sleep after two; his right shoulder made the intervening hours feel shorter.
He tried to sit. The dressing tugged at his neck, and Suzu moved her elbow out of his path before he could fall against it.
"Your mother has been listening to that machine for ten minutes," she said.
"Then I should get up before she opens it."
He found the certification photograph beside the lamp. It showed him in the front row with a bone saw across his knees, while the blurred woman stood on the gantry behind the crew. The green streak was easier to find now that he knew where to look.
