Code of Conduct Read Online Free PDF Page B

toilet.”
    â€œIt was the closest door to the elevator, ok? People were coming.” He activated the lock. “There. That lights up the ‘being cleaned—come back in ten minutes’ sign.”
    â€œIf the hall monitoring picked us up—”
    â€œThis is the private section. Anais does any scanning here, I’ll have her ass.” Evan’s voice grew hushed. “That look you had in the eye I could see scared the hell out of me—like you were staring up from the bottom of a pit. Was that some kind of seizure?”
    Jani walked to the mirror above the row of sinks. “No.” A few fissures had formed along the film’s black-and-white surface. “A combination of the stress and the environment. The nervousness of the moment. The augmentation kicked in.”
    â€œAugmentation.” Evan gave each syllable a twist of disgust. “You were sideline Service, not mainline. How could you let them do that to you?”
    â€œI was still Service, Ev. When they tell you to peel and bend over, you drop your drawers and think of the Commonwealth.” Jani dug into her duffel. “Guess they thought we all needed it, with the way the Laumrau-Vynshà situation was heating up.” She shrugged. “I have mixed feelings about it. It helps me think more clearly in emergencies—almost like a permanent tranquilizer implant. If I get hurt while it’s active, it kicks on adrenal and thyroid boosters, and helps the wounds heal faster.” She checked her clear face in the mirror. The peeling skin and rash caused by her brief exposure to the Naxin had healed in two days, instead of two weeks. “Dulls pain.”
    â€œHelped you survive the crash,” Evan added with an encouraging smile.
    â€œThat’s why I have mixed feelings.” Jani freed the bottles of film former from the depths of her bag, then blended the memory film with its activator. “Sometimes I think justice would have been better served if I’d died with everyone else. Or if I’d died, and they’d lived.” She looked up to find Evan’s reflection staring at her in shocked surprise. “Don’t worry. I won’t go suicidal on you. Just a little objective over-analysis on my part.”
    â€œReally?” He studied her skeptically. “I know some people back home you could talk to about it.”
    â€œPTs?” Jani peeled the ruptured film from her eye. The tear-swollen black-and-white fragments smacked wetly into the sink. “Ev, if the psychotherapeuticians ever got me, they’d never let go.” She activated the faucet, cupped tepid water in her hand, rinsed away the last specks of old film, and washed them down the drain. She didn’t notice Evan’s approach until he stood beside her.
    â€œJesus!”
    Jani stared into the mirror at her eye. The iris was still the dark jade of her childhood. But the sclera, instead of white, shone a lighter, glassy green that took on a bluish cast in the harsh bathroom lighting. Corroded copper coins—built-in pennies on my eyes . At least the pupil hadn’t changed in shape or size. And her sight had never seemed any better or worse than other people’s.
    Evan drew closer. “How the hell did that happen?”
    â€œContaminated starter tissue, the doctors said. No time to grow them over.”
    â€œThe doctors?”
    â€œ The doctors. John Shroud, Valentin Parini, and Eamon DeVries.” They had worked out of the Service hospital in Rauta Shèràa. They had rebuilt her after the crash, gave her strange eyes and numb limbs, and remained together after the war to form Neoclona. Now, they controlled all the hospitals in the Commonwealth that were worth a damn. Jani tilted her head back and counted out the drops of film. One…four, five . She held her lids open for ten seconds, then looked inthe mirror. Her purple-black eye gazed back with teenage clarity.
    Evan