Asimov's Science Fiction: March 2014 Read Online Free PDF

bone." Melissa poured out a bowlful of the honey cereal, the crisp little pieces making a glassy tinkling sound. "Still experimental, but figured it was the least I could do."
    "The least?" Den thumped his bowl down on the terrace table. "It could kill her.
    Who knows what it will do in her leg? That's experimental. She hasn't—"
    "Slow down."
    "You don't know what you've done."
    Melissa squinted at him. "Listen, buster. You're the one sneaking around, breaking the rules. Dragging me into it. Well, this way I'm covered. Her record now states
experimental recipient.
I'll keep my job." Melissa took a mouthful of cereal. "So will you."
    "You didn't think to ask? You didn't even think to
tell
me last night?"
    Melissa hung her head, staring at the bowl. "I wanted to," she said in a whisper. "I couldn't find the nerve. We were having such a nice time."
    Den nodded. She was right. "Hey," he said, walking over to her. "We did have a nice time. I just wish you'd told me."
    She looked up at him and managed a smile. "Yeah, sorry."
    "It's okay. I guess this way, everybody wins." He looked around. "Let's finish breakfast." He went back out to the balcony looking out at the other buildings. Down below a dog raced along the alley, tongue lolling. Den had some more cereal. Melissa was right. Jenni was a wreck, only just living. She had kept things together simply by medicating herself.
    "But now," he said as much to himself as to Melissa. "Now that's behind her. She has no choice. It's eliminated her response to the opiate."
    "We hope."
    "Did you see her face when she came up? She knew that it was gone. She felt it."
    He should have known right then. It was obvious now why she'd beaten up on him.
    Melissa agreed. "Are we going back?"
    "Now, you mean? Sure."
    "I'll get dressed."
    In fifteen minutes they were on the road, heading to the lab. Melissa, Den noticed, really knew how to read the traffic. She skipped out of fast lanes and into slow, and moments later the slow lane picked up speed while the lane they'd exited rippled down to a near standstill.
    "I know," she said when he mentioned it. "Someone told me once that half the reason lanes slow down is people shifting unnecessarily. That might be true, but I like to feel that I'm doing something."
    "I get it."
    Melissa swung off the freeway into a strip mall and parked outside Radio Shack.
    "You're getting her a deck, right?"
    "I mentioned that?"
    "She did. Don't scrimp. Get her the best they've got."
    Den nodded. He went inside and found an Akai, a generation up from his own.
    Back in the car, Melissa approved. She pulled out for the freeway.
    "Are you going to come back?" she said, coming up to traffic speed. "Or was this just a fleeting visit?"
    Den hesitated. He felt like he was on the verge of something here. Getting back with Melissa. That was something he hadn't expected or planned. It felt better this time, too. Now that he'd done what he'd done for Jenni, he was feeling more even. It was like the proverbial weight from his shoulders. Ever since he'd realized what he might be able to do for her it had burned at him.
    And now it was done.
    "Did you hear me?" Melissa said. She changed lanes again. "I mean, I understand if you're going."
    "I think I can stay. Come back. But I need to go visit with Dad for a week or two.
    With Jenni. See how that goes."
    "You think she'll do that?"
    Den nodded. "Definitely. I think she's glimpsed something else. Seen opportunity.
    Seeing Dad is another step." He saw the mile and a quarter warning sign for their exit.
    "For you, too, I think," Melissa said. She looked at him, a half-smile on her lips.
    "Then maybe you'll come back."
    Den didn't reply. It did sound like a good idea to him, but he still needed to get through the next stage.
    Melissa swung them through the lanes and scooted down the exit ramp. A few minutes later they parked in the ChaistonLabs lot.
    There was another patient in Jenni's room.
    "Guess they moved her," Melissa said.
    But Den