a brief period that a person could be seeded with an unknown strain."
"Yes, yes, I know. I just... my brother... he's just... I don't agree with all this, you know. He doesn't deserve to be locked up. He didn't do anything wrong."
"He's not a criminal, Dr. Richards."
"He's being treated like one."
"No, he's quarantined. It's not illegal to be seeded, but it is illegal to contain too many. I don't make the laws, Dr. Richards. That's just how it is."
Cali locked her lips. She'd said enough. Anymore and he'd throw her out and she'd never come back. She needed to look concerned and worried, not unstable. Not a threat.
"I'm sorry." Cali took the drawing off the folders and pushed it across the countertop. "Look, this is all I want to bring to visitation. Could you send it up to Nix? It's from his niece. She'd come, too, but she's scared of this building."
Franklin paused. He put one finger on the piece of paper and slid it closer.
"She used colored pencils," Cali added. "It's all solid medium, the paper and everything. There's nothing there that can vector a viable biomite. It's like all the other drawings in his room."
He picked it up while staring at her. He lifted it toward the overhead lights and looked through it.
"You can run it through the sterilizer, if you like. Greg knows how much these drawings mean to Nix. And, look, I'm sorry about snapping. I just want to make sure my brother gets a little something every week. Imagine what it must be like in here."
Franklin looked at the dolphin and ocean and sun for a full minute. He placed it on the counter and nodded, curtly. "Very well."
The door to the left clicked.
Another guard.
He motioned for her to come closer and put a cell phone sized box near her throat. She tasted metal.
The humming died. "You're 39.9%, Cali."
Cali nodded.
"You're one-tenth of a percent from redline."
"I'm aware of that."
The guard looked at it while he snapped the reader back on his belt. There was a long silence.
"Can I go?" Cali asked.
"Sure," the big guard said. "Get comfortable. You're probably going to see this place from the inside, reeeal soon."
Cali tightened her lips. She wanted to explain that exponential growth of biomite cells was not an absolute and that her research in the last couple months was showing signs that it could be suppressed by injecting growth regulator code that limited biomite division. Even though she slowed it down, she doubted it could be reversed. Either way, she wasn’t about to tell anyone, not until Nix was out. And they weren’t going to just open the doors and set him free.
She planned on do that.
M0THER
The End of Spelling Bees
Joni Neisler's blue placard poked her in the chin. She walked to the slender mic at the front of the stage, far too timidly for someone at the National Championship. But probably just right for a five-year-old.
She tugged at the pleats in her dress.
The judges were conferring.
There was a man behind them. She couldn't see him so well, it was dimly lit beyond the judge's table, but she saw enough. He sat there with his barrel arms latched over his chest next to his tiny wife. He was scowling. They both were. They'd been doing that ever since the contest started. Always at her.
The judge looked over his laptop, his face bluish. "Spell ‘Otorhinolaryngological’."
Joni was supposed to take a deep breath. She was supposed to ask the judge to use it in a sentence. Ask the origin of the word. Her father told her to make it look like she was thinking it through, but the lumberjack dad and his little wife kept staring at her.
They were so angry.
She just wanted to get off the stage.
"Otorhinolaryngological.
O-T-O-R-H-I-N-O-L-A-R-Y-N-G-O-L-O-G-I-C-A-L.
Otorhinolaryngological."
Joni went back to her seat. She didn't wait to hear if she was right. She was right. She spelled everything right. She didn't know what was so hard.
The crowd rumbled. There was shifting around. The judges
"Yes, yes, I know. I just... my brother... he's just... I don't agree with all this, you know. He doesn't deserve to be locked up. He didn't do anything wrong."
"He's not a criminal, Dr. Richards."
"He's being treated like one."
"No, he's quarantined. It's not illegal to be seeded, but it is illegal to contain too many. I don't make the laws, Dr. Richards. That's just how it is."
Cali locked her lips. She'd said enough. Anymore and he'd throw her out and she'd never come back. She needed to look concerned and worried, not unstable. Not a threat.
"I'm sorry." Cali took the drawing off the folders and pushed it across the countertop. "Look, this is all I want to bring to visitation. Could you send it up to Nix? It's from his niece. She'd come, too, but she's scared of this building."
Franklin paused. He put one finger on the piece of paper and slid it closer.
"She used colored pencils," Cali added. "It's all solid medium, the paper and everything. There's nothing there that can vector a viable biomite. It's like all the other drawings in his room."
He picked it up while staring at her. He lifted it toward the overhead lights and looked through it.
"You can run it through the sterilizer, if you like. Greg knows how much these drawings mean to Nix. And, look, I'm sorry about snapping. I just want to make sure my brother gets a little something every week. Imagine what it must be like in here."
Franklin looked at the dolphin and ocean and sun for a full minute. He placed it on the counter and nodded, curtly. "Very well."
The door to the left clicked.
Another guard.
He motioned for her to come closer and put a cell phone sized box near her throat. She tasted metal.
The humming died. "You're 39.9%, Cali."
Cali nodded.
"You're one-tenth of a percent from redline."
"I'm aware of that."
The guard looked at it while he snapped the reader back on his belt. There was a long silence.
"Can I go?" Cali asked.
"Sure," the big guard said. "Get comfortable. You're probably going to see this place from the inside, reeeal soon."
Cali tightened her lips. She wanted to explain that exponential growth of biomite cells was not an absolute and that her research in the last couple months was showing signs that it could be suppressed by injecting growth regulator code that limited biomite division. Even though she slowed it down, she doubted it could be reversed. Either way, she wasn’t about to tell anyone, not until Nix was out. And they weren’t going to just open the doors and set him free.
She planned on do that.
M0THER
The End of Spelling Bees
Joni Neisler's blue placard poked her in the chin. She walked to the slender mic at the front of the stage, far too timidly for someone at the National Championship. But probably just right for a five-year-old.
She tugged at the pleats in her dress.
The judges were conferring.
There was a man behind them. She couldn't see him so well, it was dimly lit beyond the judge's table, but she saw enough. He sat there with his barrel arms latched over his chest next to his tiny wife. He was scowling. They both were. They'd been doing that ever since the contest started. Always at her.
The judge looked over his laptop, his face bluish. "Spell ‘Otorhinolaryngological’."
Joni was supposed to take a deep breath. She was supposed to ask the judge to use it in a sentence. Ask the origin of the word. Her father told her to make it look like she was thinking it through, but the lumberjack dad and his little wife kept staring at her.
They were so angry.
She just wanted to get off the stage.
"Otorhinolaryngological.
O-T-O-R-H-I-N-O-L-A-R-Y-N-G-O-L-O-G-I-C-A-L.
Otorhinolaryngological."
Joni went back to her seat. She didn't wait to hear if she was right. She was right. She spelled everything right. She didn't know what was so hard.
The crowd rumbled. There was shifting around. The judges
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