MINDLYFT

CHAPTER 8

Another day, another bitcoin. I started my mornings watching Dimwit, then took the BoringTube to Mt. Hood for a little more hiking. I was back by early afternoon to drop in on Blondie, then took a nap, and made creative flirtation on the Sphere before finishing the day with Dimples. If all went well I'd only spend about three hours total overseeing their work and the rest of the day belonged to me. A few more months of this and I hoped to trust them completely. All I'd have to do was count the Bittys every week.

It was the third week listening in on Blondie when I noticed the first sign of trouble. The other office drones circled her at the weekly conference room gathering. She was sitting in a chair, her face in her hands, her thought stream a jumbled chaos of random and conflicting ideas. The need to escape - would they just shut up - leave me alone. One of them asked what was wrong. A genuine touch on the shoulder, human concern, caring, and then a Penny4Thoughts attack.

"Sit up straight," I tried to prod. "Take your head out of your hands. They'll think you're sick. In some kind of mental way. Not good. Not good."

She perked up for a moment and I noticed she'd chewed all her fingernails off. Two of them below the nub, pealing the back, showing pinkish blood. Her body was shaking.

"Tell them you need a moment. Go to the bathroom," I whispered, but she didn't move. One of them was calling a paramedic. We didn't need this. If they started doing blood work they might realize there was something fundamentally wrong with her. With her DNA. That could lead to all kinds of other questions.

I jolted her with AddaBoys to try and snap her out of it, but then she started crying. Then muttering something unintelligible.

"The medics are on the way," said a woman out of my sight. Standing behind Blondie maybe. "Just stay there JennaBerry. Its going to be ok. Take a deep breath. Would someone get her some water?"

I ran Penny4Thought scans on all the surrounding Caps, the gawking onlookers, none of whom expected it to come from Blondie, cracking up in the chair beneath them.

She's done - thought one man dressed like last century by the door.

Too much pressure its seems. Can't handle the ambiguity of the workplace - thought a different man standing at the head of the table. He was a supervisor and seemed to be taking a special pleasure in Blondie's breakdown.

I hope they don't blame me. I was trying to help her. Show that I'm a team player. From the woman standing behind her.

Then the medics walked into the room. They were AlgoTemps from the look of them. Hopefully incompetent. I wouldn't really know because the first thing they did was pull the ThinkingCap from Blondie's head and I was disconnected.

I had to get over to her office. I started navigation on my own Cap and walked toward the lift. I wasn't sure what I could do. Certainly I couldn't just barge into the office and take her away. I considered telling them I was a twin sister, but they knew from her records she was a WellSpring, or that I was anyway, and WellSprings never had twins. I considered a disguise, but once they started with their Cap interfaces my true identity and credentials would flash on their screens. I'd never hacked that part. Walking around town with concealed identity is the surest way to attract LawBots.

I didn't know what I'd do when I got there but I had to do something. I was more than halfway to Blondie's office when it occurred to me that my time might be better spent warning Dimwit and Dimples. I should be logging into their Caps and prepare them for the eventuality of being discovered. Only problem is I wasn't sure how I could prepare them because I wasn't prepared myself. What could I tell them to do? Leave the office? Run away from the city? What would I do?