Specimen

*****

“This might be a little uncomfortable,” Anna says as she places her hand against the side of my head.

She has a chip similar to the one they put in me before, if not the exact same one, designed to keep my implan

t from transmitting data back to Mills. She presses it against my skin. It stings as it enters, but I hold myself still.

Riley watches closely. I’m still trying to figure out the relationship between Riley and Anna. She said they were once friends but had a falling out. The tension between them is obvious, and it sets me on edge as well.

“It’s working,” Errol says. “The data signal is blocked now. This should keep anyone from sensing him or tracking his movements.”

“Where are we going to go?” Riley asks.

“Carson City,” Errol says. “My primary lab is still there. It’s not scheduled to move until next week.”

“And then what?”

“Well, then we can figure out what all our options are.” Errol leans back, checks his tablet, and looks at me. “All good?”

“Does it matter?”

“Not really.” He shrugs and turns back to Riley. “What’s our timeline?”

“No more than three weeks,” Riley tells him. “After that, I run out of injections, and that’s going to be an issue. I can synthesize some of it, but not all.”

“What are you missing?”

Riley rattles off a list of chemical compounds, and Errol makes note of them.

“I can get everything except the Seroquel.” He glances at me sideways. “We don’t have access to that. I have something similar.”

“The others don’t work,” Riley says quietly. She also glances at me.

“What is it?” I ask, but neither of them seems inclined to speak up. I ask again, and Riley finally tells me.

“It’s an anti-psychotic. Due to the level of hormones in your system, psychosis is imminent if you don’t get regular doses. We tried similar drugs, but this is the only one that works and only when combined with the other components of FOG.”

“That would explain the nature of his breakdown in the beginning,” Errol says. “I wondered about that.”

“Fabulous.” I rub my fingers into my eyes. “So if we can’t get that, I’m going to go nuts on everyone?”

“Probably.” Riley reaches out and touches my arm. “We could try some others…they could have some effect on you, maybe slow the—”

“No.” I shake my head emphatically. “We can’t take that kind of risk, Riley. I could…I could end up hurting you, or worse.”

“Where can we get it?” Errol asks.

“It’s only manufactured at Mills Pharmco, the pharmaceutical lab just outside of Milton.”

“You’re talking about the heart of the Mills Conglomerate.”

“It’s the only place.”

“We need to bring this up to the group.”

*****

We gather around the same office conference table with all the same people plus two other techs who work for Errol Spat. Riley shifts her chair a little closer to mine as Donald Cross looks at everyone around the table.