MIND FIELDS Read Online Free PDF Page A

children.” She pulled away.
    Now Paul was getting angry too.  He could feel it welling up inside of him.  He rarely got angry, but when he did, his anger took control of him.  He knew that what he was about to say was the wrong thing, but he could not stop himself.  “Poor little rich girl.   The only reason that the money’s not important to you is that you’ve always had it.  You can’t stand the thought of a little prosperity, can you?  You enjoy partaking in ‘the poor life’, huh?  Well let me tell you about the poor life.” He saw the look of pain on Sandi’s face.  He realized that he had gone too far.
    Neither of them said another word as they cleared the table.  The day had not gone the way that either of them had planned.  As they climbed the back steps toward the kitchen, Sandi swayed and started to fall.  Paul dropped the dishes and grabbed her, lowering her gently to the ground.  She was woozy, but still conscious. 
    “Hey, you O.K.?”
    “Yeah,” she mumbled.  “I just need a little sugar.  I guess I didn’t eat enough today.”  She had taken her usual daily insulin injection the night before, but in all the excitement of the day, she had eaten little for breakfast and almost nothing for lunch.
    Paul sat next to her on the steps, holding her steady.
    “I’ve got it,” she said pulling away.  “Just get me a packet of sugar, would you?”
    “Sure.”  Paul got up slowly, making sure that Sandi could steady herself O.K., and then ran inside to grab a sugar packet.
    A few minutes after getting her blood sugar up, Sandi felt much better, but the stress of the day had gotten the best of her.  She went up to bed while Paul finished cleaning up. 
    __

    That was the last meal they would have together.  After a meek attempt at changing Sandi’s mind once more at breakfast the next morning, Paul called JT Anderson to set up a meeting.  Anderson had anticipated the call and met Paul for lunch that day.  By the time that Paul had returned home, Sandi was gone along with most of her things.  Mr. Coffee sat on the counter as a dour reminder to Paul of what he had given up.
    Anderson had really wanted to hire Sandi, but he was satisfied to settle for Paul, who joined BNI.  Sandi remained at Hopkins as interim lab director, eventually taking over the official directorship three years later in, 2048.

Chapter four

    Five years later —
    Washington D.C., April 21, 2050

      “I can’t stand this,” Sandi said to Sam as she waited to testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Nanotechnology.   “I’m a scientist, for God’s sake, not an administrator.  Why don’t the suits take care of this stuff?”
      Dr. Sam Collier had been working with Sandi on the nanobot project for almost two years now.  He was a big fan of her work, and he had approached her during the last year of his neurology residency about developing neuronanobots specifically engineered to treat the devastating effects of stroke or traumatic brain injury.  He was sure that the pathophysiology of these neurological conditions lent themselves perfectly to nanobotic therapy, and he managed to convince Sandi of it.  He joined her team shortly thereafter.  The more Sandi investigated, the more she became convinced that this would be the perfect prototype for organic nanobots in the treatment of human illness.  For the past two years, all of her time and energy had been focused on the neuronanobot project.  They had made great strides, but funding was running low, and they desperately needed this grant that hinged on the approval of the Senate subcommittee.  The project was not without controversy.  Anything that could influence the workings of the human brain was rich fodder for social disputation.
      Sandi Fletcher was waiting nervously on a bench outside the committee room.  She had asked Sam to come along for emotional support.  He had a knack for taking life’s twists and turns in stride, and