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[Kinewa]

As you can see if you ever read Chat-box, Kinewa is writing a Nanowrimo novel.
For the time being, most of the writing for this is very rough because it is, in essence, a rough draft. You can tell which parts I skimmed through to bring up my word count, but all will be repaired in the end. As for right now, enjoy!

[Kinewa]

Prologue
?Mr. Fushida, what we have to offer is different than anything you would find anywhere else. We can give you the answers to all of the great philosophical questions in life. Unbiased answers, at that.?
?Completely unbiased? I find this difficult to believe.?
?It?s more believable than you think. I assume you?ve heard the stories about the Wilford girl, the young acclaimed genius who was orphaned recently-?
?Such a story couldn?t go unnoticed. The hospital has received thousands of offers to adopt her.?
?Yes, and those offers, although appreciated, have been denied. Orett Research Labs has the means for long term care of Miss Angeline Wilford, and has been henceforth given full custody of the girl.?
?Surely a family would have been better! She?s just a child-?
?Mr. Fushida, any regular family wouldn?t be able to do anything for her. The girl has been rendered not only blind, but deaf as well. Her memory has been jogged by the crash, and it is believed that it may never fully recover. To any normal family, she?s a vegetable.?
?Then what do you propose, Mr. Stanley? Why should I fund you to take care of a vegetable??
?Because we believe that this vegetable is still a genius, a genius we could communicate with if only we had the funding for proper technology. This is the chance of a lifetime. Your name will be remembered for centuries as the person who funded man?s solution to the world?s greatest mysteries.
Ten minutes later, Greg Stanley stood watching Fushida?s Mercedes leave the parking lot through his office window. He had left the man time to think over the offer, but knew he would get all the funding that was necessary. All he had needed to do was mention fame to the owner of the city?s largest private hospital, and Fushida was hooked. He brushed back his greying hair, impatient to supervise the experiments being conducted downstairs.
The Orett laboratories would have been very familiar to Mr. Fushida had he been given a tour. Surgical rooms encased in glass lined one wall, each separated by a thin mirror. At this moment, the Wilford girl would be in one of those rooms, currently having her brain tampered with by some of the most pronounced scientists in the world.
Ah, here she is now.
Greg halted his walk as he reached the operating room, fully appreciating the angle of the surgical bed that spared him from viewing most of the operation. Leave the queasy things to the doctors. According to a computer screen positioned next to the glass, everything was going well and should be finished in another hour. The girl?s hippocampus had been successfully modified, rendering the child with permanent amnesia. Now a chip would be inserted into her cerebral cortex in order to record her thoughts and send outside messages directly to her brain.
The project would be a long one, and this operation was just the beginning. The girl would need to recover from the car accident in a coma-like state for at least a month, and afterwards she would need time to forget her former life and adjust to this new one.



Chapter 1 - Take your medicine.

Take your medicine.
What if you aren?t real? What if I?m imagining you?
Take your medicine.
I don?t trust you.
Take your medicine.
Is that all you can say?
??Take your medicine.
Okay.

It doesn?t taste bad. It doesn?t taste like anything, just how water doesn?t have a taste. I don?t have any good reason for arguing about it except that I don?t understand it. I suppose even that doesn?t matter.
I can feel everything slipping away now. But what is everything? I don?t know. I know I am and I know that because I can feel me. I know I have arms, hair, a belly button. Am I everything? The medicine isn?t me. Oh, the medicine is slipping away, too. I?m slipping away. Goodbye something; hello nothing.
I don?t know how much time has passed. All I know is that my thoughts had slipped away and now they?re back. I think I knew it would happen today. It was about that time, but I supposed whether or not I?m conscious makes a difference. The walls here are bare, the floor is smooth, there is no furniture, no clothing, nothing but me and the medicine and my questions.
I don?t know where here is, but I think I remember not being here. I remember something, something like me but the memory fades like a dream. It dances before my eyes, just out of my reach so I can?t make sense of it. I remember other things better, like words and names for things, but I don?t remember learning them or even what some of them are.
My life is simple. I take my medicine, I drink my water, I think and then I sleep. Sometimes I slip away. I think it?s more like sleeping than normal sleep, because I don?t dream. My world is always dark. I think about it, wondering how I can know what the difference between dark and not dark is since all I?ve ever known is dark, but something in me tells me it wasn?t always that way.
I think I?m alone, I think everyone else has died or never lived, but I hear that voice and I know it isn?t me. The voice sounds different than my voices. And it bosses me around, asks questions. I?ve decided I don?t like the voice. I hope it can?t hear me.

Chapter 2 ? The Voice

Despite Angeline?s hopes, the voice could hear her. The voice had ears of its own. In fact, it had an entirely separate body and identified itself as Judy Bokstra. As it were, Judy had already worked too late and was quite exhausted. She made sure that the small microphone on her desk was muted and gathered up her things, sliding smoothly into a green fur-lined jacket.
Her identical twin, Kel, entered the small office in a flurry, various purses and bags draped across her arms. Her wild hair had almost been tamed by a grey scrunchy, and her slender body was hidden beneath a huge sweater. Regarding her own neat jacket and blouse, Judy smiled at her twin?s lack of organization. They were completely different in all ways except their looks, and of course their identical voices. Those were what really mattered.
After wishing Kel a good shift, Judy hurried out to her car, anxious to get home. Although the pay was excellent, and the benefits incomparable, Judy?s job was starting to worry her. Miss Wilford was becoming less trusting. She fought back against her instructions and was suspicious of her questioning.
Judy had informed her supervisor about the disturbing thoughts she had heard from the subject?s mind, but so far there was nothing they could do. Head office assured her that she should continue with what she was doing and ensure that the girl continue to take her nutritional supplements. You just worry about her body, Miss Bokstra, and our psychiatrists will work on her mind.
Once a month, like today, Miss Wilford?s ?medicine? was laced with tranquilizer. Once the girl had completely slipped away, she would be carried into the exam room and taken care of by medical technicians. For approximately thirty minutes, she would be given a complete physical check-up and cat scan. There was never any concern about the girl waking up part way through because the tranquilizers were strong enough to keep her asleep for three hours.

The girl was aware of her laps in thought, had always been, but the theory was that if she was used to it and if it happened regularly, she would accept it as a normal thing and not question. Judy?s main concern right now was that the check-ups happened too regularly. Everyone in the lab knew that Angeline Wilford was a genius, and it was about time they figured out that a genius can?t be fooled the same way all of the time. How did that saying go? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Chapter 3 ? Dreams of the Past and Present

Judy drove her blue Mercedes into an underground parking space beneath a large condominium. Unlike many condominiums, this was more than just a glorified apartment building. In order to enter the building from the parking lot, Judy had to swipe an ID card into a slot by the door. This added security was meant to ensure the safety of the 20 luxuriously furnished condominiums inside as well as their equally luxuriously clothed owners.
She entered her apartment, flung her keys on the table, and sat down in a stiff kitchen chair. She knew she never meant to relax, but she wasn?t sure what else to do. She could already hear her sister?s voice in her head. You think too much, Jude. Why are you so serious about everything?
She supposed Kel was right. It wasn?t Judy?s job to worry about the subject; she only had to speak to her and record her thoughts. She moved to the couch and pulled a fleeced blanket around herself. She must have been tired, because she was asleep in less than a minute.
* * *

Darkness. It?s like the darkness of sleep, but different because the darkness itself is a dream. Judy puts her hand against her chest and can feel her heart beating steadily beneath her skin. Her clothes are gone, but she isn?t worried because somehow she knows she is alone.
(I think I?m alone, I think everyone else has died or never lived)
D?j? vu. Judy has the sensation that she has thought this before, but at the same time wonders if it was even her own thought. She remembers looking into a mirror when she was twelve, inspecting her bald head that, before the chemotherapy, had been covered with beautiful brown curls. The feeling of that day sweeps over her again and begins to numb her senses.
With the feeling comes the questions. Who is Judy Bokstra? She certainly isn?t me. But somehow I know everything about her. I know her memories, her fears, her family. I can?t be her, though. I must be just visiting. Yes, I?m visiting this other person?s mind and I think I?m her. How silly of me! Why would I want to pretend I?m some little girl with cancer? That isn?t any fun at all. But I think I?m supposed to be her. I?I think there isn?t anyone else who can be her, because she?s gone somewhere else, maybe being someone else and I?m taking her place.
(I know I am and I know that because I can feel me.)
Her. Not me! Her! She?s the one who?s dying! I am not Judy! Or am I?
Judy?s hand, still on her chest, feels the thump beneath her fingertips quicken. She moves her hand to her lips instead, and realizes that they aren?t her lips, after all. These lips are fuller, and Judy can feel that her(their) body is lighter, almost slender to the point of malnourishment. She inspects the body and is relieved to find that there is a full head of hair instead of the bald scalp she remembers from the mirror.
( I know I have arms, hair, a belly button.)
These thoughts keep interrupting Judy?s with a strange, computerized voice. She doesn?t like it because she knows whose thoughts they are but she can?t remember. She just wants them to stop because for some reason they make her feel bad.
( I?ve decided I don?t like the voice. )
She feels guilt rise up into her(their) throat in a lump but doesn?t know why, and all she wants is for it to stop because she-


Judy woke up to the sound of a screeching bell. Groggily, she reached for the phone on the coffee table and mumbled a hello. Her sister?s panicked voice startled her awake.
?Calm down, Kel. I can?t understand what you?re saying.?
?I made a huge mistake. I didn?t mean to!?
Judy?s heart leapt into her throat.
?What happened??
?I left the mic on.?
?I?ll be right there, Hon. Don?t say a word to anyone.?


Chapter 4 ? The Mistake

It didn?t take long for Judy to get back to the office. When the security guard raised one eyebrow at her, she quickly explained that she had left her wallet in the office. She found her sister breathing deeply in the office, attempting to calm down before someone noticed. Judy closed the door behind her, fully appreciating the sound-proof construction of the room.
?Tell me what happened, Kel.?
?I was doing my job like normal, and I left the mic on. Oh Jude, I?m so stupid!?
?Did she hear anything??
?Yes. The worst thing she could hear! Dr. Jameson came in to collect her recent thought recordings and we were discussing the medical check-up. I didn?t even realize that the mic was still on until after he left. Oh God, Jude! This could ruin everything! They?ll kill me!?
Judy didn?t doubt that. Too much time and money had gone into this experiment for it to be ruined like this. Surely firing Kel wouldn?t be enough to satisfy Greg Stanley?s rage if he found out.
?Let?s hear what she thinks about this.?
Judy flicked a switch on a control panel set into the wall, and the result was quite similar to turning on a radio in a room set up with surround sound. Judy had always found this a bit creepy, as though she had actually stepped into her patient?s head, but sometimes it was necessary to hear the tone of thought rather than just read it from a screen. The voice that filled the room was almost robotic. If the girl had a distinctive voice with which she thought, it couldn?t be completely translated through the chip in her brain. Unless, of course, she thought the way a telephone operator speaks.
Not alone. I am me and medicine isn?t me and I?m not alone. I?m not alone and they know it! They know it because they watch me; they watch me and they listen and they?re probably listening right now. Why? Why why? Are they me? Are they like me? I?m not alone. They listen.
Kel quailed at the voice, sinking into her office chair as though she thought she could sink right through and hide inside the cushion.
?I?m dead I?m dead I?m dead Oh God I don?t want to die!?
?Wait!?
Judy put her hand on Kel?s shoulder. Hard.
?She?s gone silent.?
Sure enough, the voice had stopped completely. This had never happened before. The sister?s didn?t have long to contemplate this change before Miss Wilford?s thoughts began again, this time focusing on subjects that she thought of regularly.
I remember a word called ?colour.? I think I knew what it meant but now I?m not sure. I know there are other words that are that word, like ?blue? and ?green,? but what is a blue? Have I felt a blue in the floor?
Judy and Kel looked into each other?s eyes, identical lips parted in wonder.
?Did she forget?? Kel. She sounded hesitant.
??I don?t think it?s that,? mused Judy, ?I think she hid it from us. I think? I think she has a deeper level of thought, Kel. Who knows what else she might know that we just didn?t hear??
?Do we have to tell someone? Maybe they could plant the chip deeper or something?.?
By the fearful look in Kel?s eyes, Judy knew she didn?t want to mention this event at all, never mind bringing their subject?s deepest thoughts into the open.
?Let?s keep this quiet, Kel. We can only pray that she won?t think out loud about it again. Do you think you can cut and paste some thoughts to cover up what did come out??
Kel nodded, still shaking a bit. It was an easy enough task to do. Although they were twins, Judy had always taken on the role of older sister, and Kel was glad of it.

Chapter 5 ? Twins Wanted

Judy considered to stay with her sister for a while longer to make sure she was okay, but knew if she stayed too long it would look suspicious. She lightly kissed Kel on the forehead and told her that she could call whenever she needed her.
As she left the office, Judy needed to use a swipe card along with a retina scan to open the door to the main lobby. Security measures were taken same both entering and exiting the lab so that intruders who made it inside wouldn?t be able to escape. She nodded at the security guard and headed out to her car, but didn?t bother to turn the ignition. She needed to think.
Leaning back in her seat, Judy let out a deep breath and allowed her body to relax. Too bad she couldn?t calm her brain down so easily.
It was thirteen years ago that Kel had found the job advertisement in the newspaper. She had called Judy up, her voice full of excitement raving about a turnaround for their lives. Both girls had been working dead end jobs making minimum wage. Judy had had a roommate, but he was planning to move out and she had no idea how she would pay rent by herself. Although she was sceptical about many of her sister?s ideas, she gave Kel a chance to explain.
It?s perfect, Jude! The Orett Labs need a set of twins who can work for them long term, full benefits and a starting wage of twenty five bucks an hour!
Do you know why they need twins? Judy had replied.
Something about needing two people with the exact same voice. Come on Jude, this is our chance!
Judy had given it a chance. And until recently, she had loved her job. She had never questioned the fact that they were isolating a human being because she had conditioned herself no to think of Miss Wilford as a person. As she reflected on it now, she felt mildly shocked at her ability to do that. Heck, she had been in the girl?s head for years, why hadn?t she been able to have empathy for her?
Of course, there were many things that had made it easier to keep herself distanced. Judy had never seen the girl in person, only through the eerie green computer screen that allowed her to see into the perpetually dark bedroom. The synthesized operator?s voice used to represent the girl?s thoughts also made her sound less human.
Until today, everything had been okay. Judy could live with herself and what she did. But now things were different. She had heard genuine fear behind the robotic representation of Miss Wilford?s thoughts. She heard confusion, and although the voice sounded no different than on any other day, she now realized that it was the voice of a child.

Chapter 6 ? Not Alone

I?m not alone! Is this better? I hope so. The voice isn?t me. I knew that, didn?t I? I heard the voice and I heard another one, a voice like no voice I?ve ever heard before except one time before time. I heart them talk to each other, they were talking about a girl. The girl is me. I?m a girl. I?m a GIRL!
This is too much. There was always nothing and now it?s everything at once. Everything! Even more I have to keep my thoughts locked away in my secret place where the voice can?t hear me. I put some normal thoughts there so they won?t be suspicious. Because that?s what it?s all about, isn?t it? The voice wants my thoughts so it can give them to Doctor.
I?m not going to give them my good thoughts. No thank you, I?ll keep those right here, all locked up in my safe. And I know it?s safe here, because the voice never comes here. I can hear it at the front of my head, but back here it?s only an echo.

Chapter 7 ? Memories

After getting some strange looks from Orett employees headed into work, Judy decided sitting in the parking lot probably wasn?t the smartest idea right now. The lab was a very large facility, and most of their employees didn?t know each other because they were called to their own separate projects. The last thing Judy needed was to have security called on her over someone?s suspicions that she may be a terrorist or a spy.
She started her car and pulled out of the lot with the radio blared. She needed the music to drown out her thoughts for the time being. The radio station was playing a song from a popular movie that Judy remembered seeing when she was a teenager. She let the lyrics float around in her head as she drove slowly through the rush hour traffic, hoping it would be enough to keep her mind off other things.

I remember doing the time warp
Drinking those moments when
The blackness would hit me
And the void would be calling
Let?s do the time warp again!
Let?s do the time warp again!

Let?s not do the time warp right now, Judy thought to herself as she changed the radio station. She had had enough time warping in her dream this afternoon. Her dream? she had completely forgotten about it what with Kel?s phone call and the commotion in the office. That dream was less like a dream than a mix of memories. Some of them she had forgotten before today, but some couldn?t have been hers.
(I remember something, something like me but the memory fades like a dream.)
That voice again! Whose voice had that been?
A car horn blared. Judy was jerked out of her thoughts with a small head shake and a spasm in her shoulders. She looked through her rear view mirror to see a red Voltzwagon Golf driving across the intersection where she had just run a red light. A tanned hand coming from the passenger side window was giving her a one fingered salute.
Concerned with her own lack of concentration, Judy began to sing along to the song on the radio. Remembering dreams could wait until she got home.

Hey, Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

Funny how when you had something big on your mind, everything seemed to be related to it. Keep singing, Jude.

Hey, Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

The song ended as Judy pulled into the parking lot of her condominium. She punched a key code into a small panel on the wall of the building and listened to an over enthusiastic radio DJ as she waited for the large door to the underground parking slid open.

?And that was a classic: Hey Jude by the Beatles! Man, do I love that song! I remember when it first came out, I used to listen to it non stop-
That?s enough of you. Judy shut off the radio, parked her car, and headed up to her apartment. Once there, she made herself a cup of tea and some canned soup, then took out a pad of paper and a pen that she kept beside her phone. In the commotion of the day, she had almost completely forgotten her dream. She didn?t want this to happen again, and hoped that if she started writing what she did remember about it, she would be able to tug the rest loose like a favourite sweater from the giant pile of laundry that was her mind.
As she wrote out the details of her dream, she began to understand where some of it had come from. She had dreamed she was Angeline Wilford. Of course she had! Judy might have laughed at her inability to realize such an obvious truth had she not been in such a sombre mood. It was the Wilford girl?s thoughts who had trailed in her mind, intruding it as Judy had so often intruded on the girl. Except this was completely different. It wasn?t like the girl had actually done anything to affect her observer, it was Judy?s own mind that kept bringing her into things.
The rest of the dream was much more familiar to Judy. It was a memory from her childhood, one which her mind must have brought back up out of stress. Great load of help that is, she thought to herself I don?t want to deal with those memories.
It would seem her mind had a different opinion. Despite her attempts to avoid the subject, memories of Judy?s childhood illness came flooding back to her in an uncontrollable wave.
It hadn?t really started on a particular day. She had been tired and weak for months, even though she always got enough sleep. They knew that her diet wasn?t the problem because she ate all of the same things that Kel did, who was a very energetic child. Judy remembered feeling jealous of her twin, but never enough to have contempt.
Judy began to loose the rosy complexion of youth in her face. She remembered her father calling her ?my little ghost,? but his smile looked more grim than amused. Her mother assured him that Judy was just feeling a little under the weather, and that she would get back on her feet sooner or later. In the mean time, she pumped her daughter full of vitamin supplements and healthy meals.
Despite her mother?s prediction, Judy didn?t get better. On her eleventh birthday she lay in bed with a high fever, unable to sleep because of all the coughing. Her legs felt like they were on fire at the knees, and she remembered weakly attempting to complain about the pain in her bones, but her parents thought she might be delirious with the fever. Judy?s parents called their family doctor, who came to their house to check up on her.
The doctor ? his name was James Brown, just like the musician ? insisted that her parents take her to the hospital immediately. Fortunately for Judy she wasn?t afraid of needles, because she needed to give the doctors a sample of her blood so they could diagnose her.
What really scared Judy was the look on her parents faces when they came in to tell her the test results. Her mother?s eyes were red and puffy, and her lips were trembling. Her father had done a better job at hiding his worry, but not by much. His shoulders tshook and his smile was obviously forced.
?We found out why you?re sick, Honey. The doctors call it acute myelogenous leukemia-?
The word Leukemia reminded Judy of a book she had read in school. Something about a girl with cancer and paper birds that her classmates her made for her when she died.
?So I have cancer, right? I?m going to die, aren?t I??
Her mother burst into tears, and her father put an arm around his weeping wife. Though it probably killed him to do it, he looked his daughter directly in the eyes as he said his next words.
?There?s a good chance you can beat this, Jude, especially since you have Kel to donate Bone Marrow if you need it.?
?What is the percent, Dad. Please don?t lie to me.?
?With Kel, it?s fifty five to sixty percent.?
Judy felt her heart beat increase. She looked at her parents, eyes wide. There was a forty five percent chance she would die before even having her first kiss. She reached out with ghostly pale arms and hugged her mom , allowing her to cry on her shoulder but unable to shed a tear for herself.

The adult Judy could feel her eyes going red, her childhood emotions reflecting back from her memory, but still she wasn?t able to cry. She massaged her closed eyes in her palms and ran her fingers through her hair, then set to work making a pot of coffee.
Judy rarely drank coffee, but right now she needed something to occupy her hands. Despite her mind?s desperate attempts to delve further into her path, Judy?s will finally won out, and her memories were shoved back into the cellar she had been keeping them in for years.
This is not the time to let the past catch up with you, Judy. You have enough problems to deal with in the present. At this point, her brain felt overworked, and a weariness had taken over her body, despite the warm caffeine-filled mixture she was feeding it. In the end, she decided to leave things alone and hope that a solution would come to her later. As for work tomorrow, she would convince herself that nothing had happened between three o?clock and bedtime today.

Chapter 8 ? Paranoia

Kel didn?t sleep that night. She lay awake on her bed for most of the night, eyes red and itching but brain unwilling to let go. Eventually, she moved to the couch where she sat in silence, trying to read or knit but in her heart knowing that she was listening. She was waiting for hit men hired by the labs to break in through the window and kill her, because somehow they would find out what she had done, and she would pay.
She put her book aside, planning to head back to bed for another shot at a goal she knew she wouldn?t reach, when Kel heard a sound from the kitchen. In her mind?s eye, she could see a man dressed all in black, tucking some wbent wire into his pocket which he had used to unlock her door. Right now he was looking at her knifes hanging from the wall,, choosing which one might be best to kill a sleeping woman. As Kel imagined this, she heard something clatter. Her heart was racing so fast that she feared it would leap out of her chest or explode. She could smell her own sweat even though she felt an icy chill down her back. She took a step closer to the kitchen and stood next to it?s entrance with her back against the wall. The killer in her imagination had chosen her butcher knife, and now he was creeping towards the door to her bedroom where had she been asleep he would have found her.
Kel reached to the wooden cabinet beside her, which had been covered in a variety of knick knacks and grabbed what looked most painful to be hit with. In this case, it was a large pink ceramic kitten with a yellow ribbon around its neck. She counted to three under her breath, praying to God that by the time she hit three she would have the nerve to act, then spun into the kitchen, vaulting the kitten at?nothing. Then a live cat, a tabby she had affectionately named ?Tinkers,? zoomed past her legs and out of the room, likely wondering if his owner had either lost her mind or discovered the dead mouse behind her toilet. The fake cat, having served its purpose, had shattered into pink shells that flew across the room in all directions, making the kitchen look like some strange sand less beach.
Kel lunged across the room, not noticing the shards ofkitten now jabbing into her feet, and threw open her bedroom door. Her room was empty. Realizing that she had forgotten to breathe after having counter to three, she let out the stale air in her lungs and breathed deeply, her heart still pumping furiously but beginning to slow down.
She looked at Tinkers, who was observing her curiously from the living room entrance, and began to laugh. She must be crazy to have thought someone could break in! The new thought records wouldn?t even be anylized for a few days yet.
She fell back into a kitchen chair and bent her right leg to rest the ankle on her left thigh, inspecting her foot thoughtfully. There was a little bit of blood, but nothing to worry about. She winced when she saw a piece of ceramic in her foot and grabbed the edge between her thumb and forfinger, turning her face away as she yanked it out. She hissed at the wound but felt much better to have it out. She checked her other foot in the same fashion, but only came up with a couple of scratches, neither of which had drawn blood.
Still laughing at her paranoia, Kel grabbed a broom and sweeped up the mess that had used to be Jude?s least favourite decoration. At least she?d see it as a fitting end, Kel thought to herself. For the first time since this afternoon, she was feeling a bit better. Having cleaned up the mess, she hobbled off to bed, favouring her right leg the slightest bit, and fell asleep almost immediately. Although she still felt a bit silly for being so paranoid, Kel slept with the light on that night, as she would for a while.



Chapter 9 ? Back to work

Judy woke up early Friday morning and head off to work as usual. She hoped that today would be easy enough and she could get a start on re-integrating her doctor-patient view on Miss Wilford. As long as she kept her self separated from the girl, things should be okay.

She relieved the midnight employee, a lean middle aged man named Eddie Spinner. Eddie had deep bags under his eyes and looked ready to sleep for a week.
?How was the night, Eddie??
?Boring as ever. You?d think that someone kept in total darkness all the time wouldn?t know the difference between day and night, yet somehow she always sleeps during my shift.?
?It?s a good thing for me! Could you imagine if you needed some custom voice commands from kel and I that hadn?t been pre-recorded? ?
?Come on now, you know you would rather see me than anyone else in the middle of the night, Judy-pie.?
?Get to bed, old man. You?re beat.?
?Yeah, I suppose you?re right.?
As Eddie hobbled out of the office,, Judy caught a whiff of strong coffee breath. Eddie was a nice enough guy to talk to, but she was glad she didn?t have to face that smell for her entire shift.
Judy sat down at her desk and leaned back in her chair, looking into the greenish light of the computer screen that depicted Miss Wilford?s room. The girl lay curled in a corner, gently sucking her thumb like an oversized two-year-old. Despite her nudity, the girl would never be too hot or too cold thanks to very specific climate control. Just one more perk of living the world?s most sheltered life.
It seemed that today would be a good one. The confusion and question raising of yesterday was in the past, and Judy hoped to find comfort in slipping back into routine. She logged into the office computer and began to type her written behavioural report for the week, assuring the Big Cheese that everything was status quo and no new developments in the experiment had arisen. The typical BS seen in most offices.
Until lunch , the day had been uneventful. Although this was supposed to be expected, Judy couldn?t help but let out a pent up mental breath of air. Nothing was going to come of the microphone incident.
It was after Judy?s lunch break that everything changed. Inside the ?green room,? a small bowl shaped shelf protruded from the wall containing three large vitamin capsules. These multivitamin supplements had been specially designed to sustain Miss Wilford?s life without allowing her the biases of new tastes. W water fountain protruded beside it, gently dropping a flow of clear water slow to a drain in the floor.
The subject took her usual drink of water, but didn?t touch the pills.
Judy pulled the little microphone towards her mouth, cautiously reminding herself to turn it off later even though she had never made that mistake in the past. She flicked the on switch and opened a connection with the girl?s mind.
?Take your medicine.?
Leave me alone.
Resistance. It was unusual for the girl, but not unheard of. Judy replied with repetition, just as she had been told to. She was not allowed to let emotion into her voice, and especially not permitted to use colourful language. If she accidentally spoke a word that the girl didn?t know, she could theoretically discover that the voice isn?t part of herself. (Unless, of course, it was too late to preserve that)
Take your medicine, Judy repeated.
I?m not listening to you, voice. Not until you tell me who you are.
A sharp intake of breath. Judy isn?t quick enough to hide it. As her mind rushes to find a solution to the problem, the microphone in her hand crackles mwith a sound similar to that of sparklers. For a moment, Judy feels an eerie occupancy within her own mind.

Chapter 10 ? Let?s do the time warp again
I?ve been thinking about it all night. Not in the open, no, I?ve kept these thoughts in my private place. If the voice is real and the voice isn?t me, then maybe I can listen back. As soon as that connection opens, I should be able to use it the other way around.
My life is simple. I take my medicine, I drink my water, I think and then I sleep. But it?s my thinking that will help me. My thinking that I am always doing, I think I can use it. So tonight there is no sleep, only thinking. I don?t have to worry about sending useless thoughts to them, because they think I?m asleep.
The medicine is here. I don?t see it or hear it(what is see? What is hear? These lost words that still come to my mind), but I know it?s hear. I touch it with my mind. I know that if I don?t take my medicine the voice will come in.
Take your medicine
There it is. As the connection opens, I know I need to delay the voice. I can almost feel it in my head and I think I can follow that path.
Leave me alone.
Take your medicine.
Aha! I can feel the line, I can follow it! Yes! No. It?s wavering. Stall!
I?m not listening to you. Not until you tell me who you are.
The voice makes a funny noise. Somehow I know I?ve surprised it. I take my advantage now and flow into the connection, pulling my consciousness along the path even though it hurts so much my head is throbbing with the pain.

What is this? I?m scared so much! I?m scared! These words that have always been in my head but had no meaning, I see them now and they are all coming together. Colours. Sounds. Light, of so bright the light!
A flood of memories swarm into my consciousness and I know that these aren?t mine, they are the memories of the voice(Jude. Judy.). I feel pain, I feel the hair falling out of my head. I see a face that I know looks the same as mine(hers) except it?s round and full and healthy. The face(Kel, oh Kel) is scared and there are wet splotches on her cheeks. And I know, somehow I know that this is the voice, too. Then I realize that my cheeks are wet too and I don?t know why but at the same time I(Judy) knows.
Now I see a small girl, and she is the colour green. The girl is alone and I know she is me because I can hear her(me) thinking and questioning. Judy is watching her and listening but she doesn?t really listen because it hurts her too much. I can feel her pain and her happiness and her frustration and I know everything about her because right now I am Judy, but not for long. No, I feel it fading, and I?m afraid that if I stay here for too long I won?t be able to go back, back to my quiet and my dark and finally then I can think!

Chapter 11 ? The Stranger

Judy feels the pressure lift off her brain, as though someone had wound a tight bandage around her forehead and let it u unwravel within a split second. Her eyes wide and lips parted in a look that was very unbefitting to her intelligence, she shifted her gaze to the green computer screen in front of her and saw the girl holding both palms against her temples. Judy double-clicked the zoom button and realized that what she thought she had seen on the girl?s facew was actually there. Streaming from blind eyes came the tears of one who has felt all of the pains of a person?s life at once.
Judy?s pity for the girl faded away as she began to realize the source of those tears. From Angeline Wilford?s eyes, all of the pains of Judy?s life were being expressed. The hurtful days of cancer treatment, her inability to have a baby no matter how hard she tried. Her lonely life in a rich condominium with no one to share her bed with. These were the things that had affected the girl so strongly, and Judy felt outraged.
Those are mine! She yelled at the girl with her mind, even though she couldn?t possibly hear her.;. My thoughts, my memories! My pain! How dare you take them! How dare you cry the tears that I?ve never been able to let out! Her face turned red as blood rushed into it, and her eyes began to stream their own paths of tears down her cheeks. She began to breathe in quick gasps, her entire body shaking with each breath.
Needing to take out her raging emotions on something, Judy hit the wall with all of her strength. Streaks of pain shot out from her knuckles along the back of her palm, freezing cold and burning hot at once. The physical pain was enough to mollify her inner calamity, and she sat weakly in the office chair, once again grateful for the sound proof structure of the room.
Judy ran the back of her hand across her face, but even as the tears were wiped away she could still feel moisture on her cheek. She held out the hand and realized that smudges of blood had been oozing across it. Great. Just great.
She rooted in her purse for a napkin and found it without trouble. Organization was she key. Carefully, she wiped the blood from her palm and face, using a compact mirror to see the latter. She had scraped the skin off her knuckles, but the bleeding had stopped and except for the hot stinging sensation she felt every time she clenched her fist, it was okay. She checked the computer screen to see what the little thief was up to.
The girl was moping in the corner of her room. Her jaw was slack and her expression reminded Judy of a bulldog watching his owner barbeque. A pleasant image to see on the face of a girl with a higher IQ than Einstein. She had stopped crying, but occasionally patted her face with one or both hands, as if wondering where the moisture had gone.
Judy reached for the microphone, hesitated, and pulled it back. Are you crazy? Do you want to get killed, Jude? She turned back to the computer screen instead, pulling the thoughts marquee in front of the camera feed. The stream of words flashing across the screen were almost nonsensical. Almost. They made sense to Julie because she had seen these words before. She had thought them. In Julie?s mind?s eye, the words running across the screen in neat, black text was actually written on a piece of lined binder paper in a twelve-year-old?s scrawl.

I look into the mirror, confused by what I see
Who is this person staring back at me?
She isn?t me, I know, but nothing?s as it seems
Perhaps I?m dead and gone and these are just my dreams.

I?m looking through a window, living out her days
But surely I?m not her, and this is just a phase
How did I get here, inside a child?s head?
I still don?t understand; am I alive or dead?

Judy had completely forgotten writing the poem until this moment. Her mother had disapproved of the poem, thinking that she was depressed. Judy had tried to explain the strange feeling she had been trying to portray, but Mum didn?t understand. Typical. Somehow she wasn?t surprised that this was the piece of memory that Miss Wilford decided to brood on would be this. Hadn?t she just done what Judy had described? She had looked through the window of her eyes and lived her memories. The thought of it still made Judy shudder uncomfortably. It was worse than having someone walk in on you in the bathroom. She pictured Miss Wilford?s tear streaked face and sighed. For all of the life experience she had, the girl might as well be an infant.
The thoughts were changing now, those stolen from Judy fading away to whispers as the girl stored them away in some secret place and replaced them with dry surface thoughts. Although the child was conveniently hiding most of the thoughts that could get the Bokstra twins in trouble, Judy wasn?t sure that copying and pasting over the rest would make do for long. She considered telling one of her bossers about the girl?s adventure into her thoughts, but wondered if that would only inspire further digging iinto Miiss Wilford?s mind.
Funny, she thought to herself, I didn?t care in the slightest about eabvesdropping on her thoughts until she listened in on mine. She felt mildly disgusted with herself, but recently that wasn?t a new thing.
In the end, Judy decided that things should be kept under wraps, if not because of the moral implications involved, then for the safety of her sister, who could get in trouble if they found out about her mishap the day before.
Without holding back any further, Judy grabbed the microphone in one manicured hand and flicked it on, assuming the business ? sounding voice that she had become accustomed to addressing the girl with.
?I know you can lock your memories away. I need you to hide the conversation you overheard between Kel and Doctor Jameson. If you do, I can help you get out of here. Today?s memories-? Judy faultered. ?My memories, you should keep on the surface.?
She didn?t know if the message had really gotten across or not, but Judy realized that this was the best she could do. Until she had begun to speak, she hadn?t even realized that she was planning to help Angeline Wilford, prisoner of Orett labs, escape.
Judy was not as skilled as her sister with computers, but she found it wasn?t to difficult to cover up the minute during which she had sent the girl her message. She knew that it would be too much to cover this whole mishap, but a plan was forming in her head.
She picked up a plain grey office phone and dialled the three digit extension of Dr. Jameson. She tried to psych herself into a near panic, because she wanted to sound scared when she talked to her superior. After three rings, he picked up.
?Jameson here.?
?D-doctor?. I need someone here immediately. I have? I have something to report.?
?Are you okay, Judy??
It was working. Excellent.
?I think so. Please get over here quick.?
?I?m on my way.?

Twenty minutes later, Judy?s office was occupied by Dr. Jameson, his boss, Greg Stanley, and a recorder typing everyone?s words down furiously on a small laptop. The microphone, of course, was off.
?Okay, Judy,? said Dr Jameson in his deep baritone voice. ?Please tell your story again for Mr. Stanley and Miss. Terrence, just how you told it to me.?
Judy stole a nervous glance at the woman with the laptop, who looked a little too old to be called ?Miss.? She hoped that doing this would further convince her supervisors that she was still very shaken from this traumatic event.
?She didn?t take her medicine. That?s okay because she has been argumentative about that recently and I always just repeat my instructions to her just like I?m supposed to and normally she relents after a little while but today she didn?t although I never really had a chance to repeat it more than twice.?
She took a deep breath after speaking these words at the speed of an auctioneer at a car show. Dr. Jameson looked concerned, but Mr. Stanley simply looked annoyed, as though he was missing his own mother?s funeral for this.
?The second time I said ?take your medicine,? she spoke to me.?
?That?s impossible. She think?s you?re part of her own mind! You mean to say that she thought about your proposal.? Mr. High and Mighty Greg Stanley looked at Judy as though she were some lower form of life. Possibly a crustacean.
?N-no Mr. Stanley, sir. She addressed me and ordered that I tell her my name. Or something like that.?
?What have you done, woman? Do you mean to say that you just single-handedly destroyed a 16 year experiment?!?
Dr. Jameson put on hnd on his boss?s shoulder, as though he suspected the lean man to rush at Judy and wrap his hands around her throat. By the red tinge on his face and the vein throbbing in his neck, Jameson felt he wouldn?t be surprised if Mr. Stanley wanted to do just that. ?Let the woman finish, Greg. She has something else to say.?
Judy?s acting was replaced with real fear, but she continued to tell her story. Knowing very well that this next part would either save her life or end it faster. ?Then, Mr. S-Stanley, then she came into my head! I don?t how she did it, Sir, but it wasn?t human, you know? I think we have one of those telepaths on our hands. My brain felt heavy for a few seconds, and when she retreated, when she went back to her own head, I could see my memories on the screen! Things that only I know, Mr. Stanley!?
She burst into tears for the second time today. She didn?t even need to force them, because she was no longer acting. ?Sh-she was reflecting on a poem that I wrote when I was 12, sir.?
The vein in Greg stanley?s thin neck slowly retreated behind his skin. Miss Terrence let out a gasp, then closed her mouth tight and typed faster, hoping that no one would notice. Dr. Jameson removed his hand from his boss?s shoulder, and for a complete minute the office was silent. It was Mr. Stanley who spoke first.
?Let?s hear her record.?
Judy Squeezed between the doctor and the typewriter, feeling grateful that having this many people ein the small space was such a rare occurrence, and opened the electronics panel on the wall. She pulled the same switch she had the night before and the operator?s voice filled the room once more, in it?s own way making the office seem even more crowded than it already was.
The voice is Judy Judy Judy. What a strange word! But the voice is also Kel. I know what colours are! Judy?s hair is brown. Judy has parents. I still don?t know exactly what a parent is. Oh, I see now. A parent is a bigger person.
Judy has Kel, Kel who looks like Judy and talks like just but isn?t her.
Do I have a Kel? Do I have a? what is the word? A sister? No, close, but not that word. A twin. Yes. Do I have a twin like Judy has Kel? I don?t know I don?t know I want to know, though. I want more colours.
Dr. Jameson slumped into the office chair, as though hearing this had finally confirmed something he only half-believed. Mr. Stanley, on the other hand, had closed his eyes, as though seeing would distract him too much from what he was hearing. His mouth twitched into a smile, but not the type of smile one would sport when greeting a friend. This smile was like that of a person who has finally solved a crossword puzzle that they have been working on all day.
Not one of the people in the office spoke. Judy unconsciously began to breathe more quietly, if such a thing was possible. The doctor and the two women watched their boss, and although the office was climate conditioned, a cold breeze seemed to tingle across their spines.
?Here?s what?s going to happen. Tomorrow we?re going to give our little telepath another medical check. You?ll be coming along for this, Miss Bokstra. I?m going to get the scientists to scan both of you in order to see what kind of tie the girl has created. Capeesh??
Judy nodded, her eyes wide as though she feared the scientists were going to literally dig around in her brain. Mr. Stanley looked from her large blue eyes, to the deep brown ones of Doctor Jameson that matched his skin perfectly, then to the quinty hazel eyes peeking through Miss Turcott?s spectacles. If looks could kill, his was only a threat.
?No body says a thing about this. No one. I will be contacting Miss Keladry bokstra and Edward JHAKSJFH personally to explain the situation to them, but I will have none of you even speak to each other about it. This will be kept completely under wraps unless I say otherwise.?
He left the room at a brisk trot, closely followed by his recorder. The woman shuffled in that way only an elderly woman could, her mary Jane shoes clicking with each step. Doctor Jameson gave Judy a kind look and followed suit.
At first, Judy wanted to smile with glee about how well her plan was working, but she decided against it. She had decided years ago that if there was something she didn?t want put out in the open, she should assume that she was constantly under watch. It had pulled her out of quite a few iffy situations in the past, and she only hoped it would now.
It?s strange how important things, the things that really change your life, hit you at the strangest times. This happened to Judy right now, as she realized just how dangerous her plan was. Just yesterday she had warned her sister to keep things under wraps for fear of her life, and here she was stirring up more trouble then Kel could even do. Sure, she had a plan, but what were the chances it would work? If those scientists could look into her mind in the same way she had observed the girl in the room next door, they would know her motive immediately.
Heck, for all Judy knew, they would put her and Miss Wilford into separate examination rooms, and nothing would work the way she planned it. Her breathing quickened and her heart raced, but Judy wouldn?t let a panic attack overcome her. She sat down and forced herself to calm down. Panicking would do nothing. For the rest of her shift, Judy had retreated into an inner self, barely paying attention to her work, but rather retreating within herself. When three o? clock came around and Kel rushed in to take her shift, Judy barely spoke to her. Her sister, although slightly hurt, left it alone. She must just be worried because of yesterday. If anything else had happened, Jude?d tell me.


Chapter 12 ? Angeline

Tonight I dream her memories. It?s almost as though they are too many to process, and sometimes I feel like my brain will explode with all of the new memories, the thoughts, the sensations! But I want to know more. I want to understand the voice that I have heard all of my life. Tonight, I am Judy Bokstra, and I?m in a hospital in Toronto.
The room is a blue-green colour. I?m so excited about the colours that it?s almost hard to focus on anything else, but my senses all scream at me to pay attention, to use them because I?ve never been able to before.
The room smells like medicine. That?s what Judy remembers this smell as. There?s a stiff bed and I?m sitting on it, playing a game of ?I Spy? with Kel. Right now, Kel doesn?t look like me. I know this because in one of Judy?s other memories she?s looking into a ?meer,? and I can see that her face is skinnier and whiter than Kel?s.
A man walks into the room and he has a white coat on him and a beard. The beard looks like the hair on my head except it?s much shorter. I wonder why his hair is growing from his face, but Judy knows in her memory that this is a normal thing.
The man with the beard explains to me(Judy) that Kel has agreed to give me some of her bone marrow. I want to argue with the man, to tell him that it isn?t Kel?s fault that I?m sick, but I hold it back. Kel grabs my hand and smiles at me. Judy remembers these words louder than they must have been, because her sister?s voice sounds amplified and echoey. ?For once, it?s my turn to take care of you, sis. Just let me be the older sister for once.?
I wonder where my parents are, and I guess that they want me to be alone with Kel right now. I want the doctor to go away, and as though he can hear my thoughts, he exits the room. I look at Kel?s deep blue eyes that are exactly like mine, and I can see she wants to cry. I pull her into a hug and tell her that I love her, I tell her that everything will be okay and I thank her for agreeing to give me some of her cells.

Chapter 13 - James Bond

Like her sister the night before, Judy didn?t sleep much. Unlike her sister, she wasn?t paranoid about being caught for something, but she knew that tomorrow night that might be the case. She roamed around her apartment, wondering what possessions she would never see again. Of course, she wouldn?t be coming home after work tomorrow. She would never return to this condominium again.
Good riddance. Sure, the place is nice, but nothing her makes it a home. Judy looked with disgust at the plainness of her home, a modern look her interior designer had tagged it. The walls were a steely white and All of her appliances were either stainless steel or stainless steel plated. Her furniture was mostly black save for an old leather armchair that had been worn down in the seat to a dull grey. Next to this chair was a small bookcase and a floor lamp.
Judy had always been a bookworm as a child, and reading was always a good alternative to staring at the inside of a hospital room when she was twelve. These later years, Judy read because it was so much easier than leaving the house.
Her occasional visits with Kel and her mother, Deborah, were about the most social interaction Judy involved herself in after work. Until now she had never regretted it, but she would need somewhere to go and had no friends to help.
Strategically, Judy picked out some clothing and small items that she didn?t wish to part with. She gathered them into a dark blue duffel back with a coca cola logo on the side and took it out to her car. She returned to her apartment and, having finished all of her prep work, headed off to bed, knowing as well as you do that she wouldn?t be able to sleep a wink.
The next morning, a very Tired Judy woke up at 6am as usual and ate breakfast. Today it was instant oatmeal and a glass of water. It probably wasn?t the kind of breakfast that James Bond would eat, or Superman for that matter, but Judy wasn?t a professional at rescue missions. She grabbed her small leather purse off the table, made sure she had her wallet, and was almost off to work before she realized that she was still wearing her pyjamas.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Judy got properly dressed and once again headed out the door, stopping for a moment to survey her apartment for something-anything she might need. In her mind, Judy knew that what she really wanted was to find something that would change her mind, but that didn?t come. She reached for a picture that had hung on the wall by the door since the first day she had moved in and shoved it in her purse.
Driving to work was average. Smiling at the morning security: just the same as ever. Everything worked as it normally did, which surprised Judy because she had been expecting something ? anything to stop her. She reached her office and spoke for a few minutes with Eddy. Although he didn?t mention anything about knowing what happened, she could see in his eyes and his overly-kind smile that her knew. Eddy was like a second father to Judy, although she had no idea how old he was.
She set up in the office, folding her jacket over the back of the chair and setting her purse on the table. The girl on the table was sleeping, but wsa moving fitfully in her dreams. Judy hoped they were dreams and not memories that bothered the girl. She sat in fron of the screen and reached to turn it to the thought records when a voice popped up in her head.
Judy wanted to scream, but managed not to. It was a good thing, because the thick door was still slightly ajar. The voice sounded strange, like a baby that was just learning to speak. Even the tone was high and childish. It took the woman a second to figure out what was being said.
Theroo are. Iben wade in.
She began to speak back, then closed her mouth quickly, ashamed of her own stupidy. Nope, definitely not a professional like James Bond. She focused on her thoughts instead, unaccustomed to communicating silently.
You know I?m here? Eddie just left two minutes ago!
Ah dano ed-dee. Ah no Jude ?cause Ah conneted wit oo.
What? Oh. You?re very difficult to understand like this. Listen to me, don?t take your medicine today. Pretend to, and them pretend to sleep. Can you do that?
Yah. Ah go bye-bye now.
Judy was reminded of the babies from the pamper?s commercials. The ones with the over childish voices that proclaimed ?I?m a big kid now!? In angeline?s case, she was a big kid now, but apparently she could only ?speak? with the lilting voice of the little girl who was in a car accident ^^^ years ago. Interesting what memories reclaim when the really important stuff was out of reach.
Just as Judy suspected, it wasn?t long until the medicine came out, sliding inconspicuously from the smooth wall of the room in the green screen. She panicked for a second, wondering if the girl would immediately go for the medicine which would tip off her superiors because of how much she had argued recently.
Fortunately, Miss Wilford was much smarter than her observer had assumed. She crawled to the other side of the room and sat in the corner, wondering to herself about different colours and how they could combine to make new ones. Judy dutifully switched on the mic, and as she began to speak her pager went off, humming gently against her leg.
?Take your medicine.?
She didn?t have a chance to read the girl?s retort because she was busy pulling the pager out of her pocket. A small green screen with black letters flashed at her with three numbers. She assumed it was an extension. Judy picked up her office phone and dialled the numbers 642.
?Stanley here.?
?It?s Judy Bokstra. You paged me??
?Yes, Miss Bokstra. I assume you are mentally prepared for this morning?s tests??
?Yes, sir. I?ve been able to sleep on it and I want to help with this experiment as much as I can.?
?Good. And the girl??
?I?ve just been coercing her into taking her medicine. I hope that everything can go as normal, but I?m not sure after she - after she learned a few things.?
?Just do your job. Dr. Trent will be in in a few minutes to show you to the examination room.?
He hung up, the click of the phone ringing in Judy?s ears. Cold sweat ran down her face, and she hastily wiped it up with a Kleenex from her purse. There was only a little bit of time between her old life and her new one, if she could call this a life. Her plan was sketchy to say the least, and she could only pray that things would work out.
Taking the microphone back in her hand, Judy addressed the girl again.
?Take your medicine.?
?No, Judy Bokstra. I have no reason to listen to you.?
?Take your medicine.?
?Fine!?
The girl grabbed the pills in one hand and cupped it to her mouth, tilting her head back and swallowing. Then she squeezed both hands into fists and waved them in the air in frustration. What Judy couldn?t have seen if she didn?t suspect was the fine white powder that shook from the girl?s hands once she released her fists. Excellent.
Angeline sat down for a minute, then thumped to her side slowly as she had many times before on medical check-up days. Just then, a young man with short cropped hair and a clean shaven face entered Judy?s office with a clipboard. He reached into his crisply ironed pocket and pulled out a fountain pen that likely cost much, much more than your typical Bic.
?Miss Judy Bokstra??
?That?s me. I assume you?re Doctor Trent??
?That?s right. I?m going to go over some waivers with you before we begin. You may sit down if you wish.?
Judy had stood when the doctor entered the room, expecting him to take her for a guided tour of the building right away. Now she looked at her chair, the only one in the small room, uncomfortably.
?I would really feel bad sitting while you stood to speak to me. You can have my chair if you like.?
Doctor Trent smiled squeamishly, as though he was sure the chair had come in contact with the black plague and would pass it on to him if he looked at it too much.
?Let?s skip the pleasantries, Miss Bokstra. We can both stand.?
Despite her nervousness, Judy noted a few things about Doctor Trent as he spoke to her. The man was clean. Almost too clean. Not a hair on his head was out of place, and he smelled of hand soaps that were advertised as non-scented but still managed to retain that distinctly soap smell. He touched nothing in her office but stood in the middle of the room with an ease that suggested habit.
?This contract basically permits that you are willing to allow Orett Labs and all those directly involved in the experiments within to take a scan of you brain, and if it is necessary, to do a basic thought scan. If you require any form of physical operation for further tests, we will provide the proper paperwork for such.
Furthermore, you agree not to lay charges against Orett Labs directly related to today?s checkup, today being June 18th, 2005. This includes health problems that may arise from our rooting around, or possibly emotional and personal interference.