Fixed Read Online Free PDF Page A

computers scrambling. Once she’d even jammed a door by continually passing back and forth through the security beam, and the alarm had gone off. It had meant a shitload of pejoratives, but Nellie couldn’t resist the odd prank against the system. The sliding doors, the miles upon miles of gleaming off-white corridors, the endless sound-proofed walls — it was all so smooth, so implacable, so smug .
    Behind her the sliding doors hissed, opening and shutting several times. Nellie observed their mechanical confusion with satisfaction, then took off down the hall toward an overhead sign that read “Station Seven.” Veering around a corner, she grinned as the station’s reception desk came into view and a resigned expression crossed the secretary’s face.
    “Nellie Kinnan,” the woman said, without consulting her appointment book. “Room Fourteen, as usual. And WALK PLEASE.”
    “Yeah, sure,” said Nellie, taking off again at full speed. She knew Room Fourteen, it was one of the psych labs where they made her answer all kinds of weird questions about dreams and stuff. She thought it was a gas and always gave the wildest answer that came into her head. The dreams she made up were way more interesting than her actual ones, and besides, she would never give that kind of information to a psychiatrist. Real dreams were private. No one in their right mind should expect you to answer questions like that.
    Grabbing hold of the doorhandle as she ran past, Nellie yanked herself to a stop and fell heavily against the door. Then she pounded twice. She always did this at Room Fourteen, it was her special hello knock.
    “Nellie,” smiled the lab-coated woman who opened the door. She was an assistant, still working on her degree, but insisted Nellie call her Doctor Juba. “I guessed it was you halfway down the hall,” she said, still smiling. It gave Nellie the creeps. “What d’you think was my first clue?”
    Giving her a polite nod, Nellie slipped past without answering. Whenever possible she avoided responding to assistants, just so they would remember that she was one of Advanced’s top cadets and didn’t have to answer to just anyone . “Hey, Dr. Westcott,” she grinned, crossing the room and dropping into an armchair in front of a large desk. “What kind of crazy questions d’you want to bug me with today?”
    The man seated behind the desk gave her an answering grin. Comfortably plump, his hair going gray at the temples, he looked like a man who owned a pack of dogs and a house with a large yard. “Oh, y’know, the same old stuff,” he said, giving her a wink. “Just so I can pull my paycheck for another week.”
    “Yeah. Lucky you’ve got me to bug or you’d go bankrupt.” Leaning forward, Nellie dug into a bowl of candies sitting on the desk. As she unwrapped one, Westcott’s grin grew.
    “Help yourself,” he said. “Retroactively, I mean.”
    “Whatever.” Nellie shrugged and popped a candy into her mouth. Dengleberry flavored — her favorite. She made a mental note to look up ‘retroactively’ on the rec room computer when she got back to dorm.
    “Nellie, how about you come over here and we’ll set you up in the Relaxer,” said Juba from across the room. “Then we can start today’s session.”
    Heaving a sigh, Nellie rolled her eyes at Westcott and got to her feet. Juba was always in a hurry to get things going. Westcott gave her another sympathetic wink, and Nellie fished several more candies out of the bowl. The sugar rush helped her concentrate and dengleberries were a rare treat. Apparently they grew only in the Outbacks.
    Despite the snub she’d received at the door, Juba gave Nellie another smile and waited as she slouched into the Relaxer, a thickly padded chair that tilted into a lie-back position. When Nellie had settled, the assistant slipped a small helmet onto her head, complete with blinders and tiny speakers that fit into each ear. Thenshe adjusted a small microphone