JJ lost feeling in her thumb on pump stroke forty three.
She noticed because the loose copper braid slipped from it and struck the lower contact. The right pump fired while the left handle was still descending.
Both hoses kicked against the tank rim.
The woman inside folded around her graft. Black fluid pushed between the gray fingers she had clamped over the split in her wrist.
JJ tore the braid away. The copper burned a line across her palm before the right pump stopped.
"The next shared stroke will tear her returned arm open through the elbow."
Yun-Jin caught the left handle at its highest point. Violet thread held it there while JJ flexed her hand. Her thumb moved late, then folded into her palm as if it belonged to someone riding in the next car.
Useful. She had four fingers and a growing dislike of counting.
